Yugioh: Hallowed Darkness
by Shade Adriel
Summary: The sovereigns are an alliance that holds eternal control over Duel Monsters. And now, they're emerging... Chapter 8 up! Another avatar has been found!
1. The Hunter

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

I own a lot of the cards used in this fic. Especially since some character's decks are entirely custom cards…staples not included. Gotta have your staples! Anyway, everything else I don't own. Characters are mine or my reviewers'.

Welcome to the rewrite of Tournament of the Eclipse, my first long term story on I wrote it terribly. Therefore a touch of realism has been added to this version, a touch I hope you all enjoy. This is a fic that preludes MysticAvenger's fic, called "Champion Duelists: The New Age". Read it for something that I guess you could consider spoilers except not really…

Chapter One introduces the first main character, the only one written in my image, Adriel! Err, note that he's not related to me at all, just that I write him as my character. The main characters are based on people I know one way or the other.

**YuGiOh: Hallowed Darkness**

_The Hunter_

"I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon and obliterate your monster as well as the rest of your life points!" shouted a boy victoriously. In front of him appeared a huge dragon, a light blue in color with purely blue eyes. It opened its maw and fired a beam of energy, blasting through a weaker monster and passing through its impaled body to its master's opponent. The other boy fell to the ground in shock that he had lost.

The victor of the duel was tall with dark hair, spiky and short, with deep blue eyes and a style that showed he was cutting-edge. On his wrist was a DuelDisk to match. Although it was a bit older than KaibaCorp's newer models, it remained the most expensive and most popular item on the market.

The DuelBlade was an interesting item, made for the student who didn't have the room in his or her backpack for the machinery. Instead, it featured no minimizing functions and was simply a bladelike object, the deck and graveyard disc at one end, the blade jutting out to the side. The five monster pads and accessory slots were located on this blade. Three straps, two on the blade and one on the disc, latched the item to its owner's arm. They also tied onto the side of any backpack commonly found, making it a very efficient tool.

Walking over to his opponent, the dragon duelist pulled him up and stuck out his hand. Sadly, the other boy handed over his wager, fifteen dollars and his favorite card, the Insect Queen. The winner of the duel, known to many as "The Hunter", took this card and put it in a binder filled with rare cards. On the page that was the Insect Queen's new home, he quickly scribbled his opponent's name in permanent ink.

Adriel Touchstone watched all of this discontentedly from his classroom on the second floor. _Duel Monsters…_ he thought to himself. _Why does everyone play that? I don't see the point in it all. I mean look at that! Some kid from another school comes here just to play games with our best "duelists" and steal their cards! If I wanted my stuff stolen then I'd go walking in an alley where at least no one would see me. Not like I have money to steal…_

Sighing, Adriel returned to his work. His excuse for not joining in the fun was that "He didn't need to waste his time and money on kid's games." In reality, however, Adriel was broke. His tact had saved him from anyone ever finding out that he lived in a dysfunctional home, but what would he do when he left for college? His dad was…who knows where Mr. Touchstone was? Adriel didn't even know his name before he left the family. His mom never spoke of him, and she probably couldn't remember if she tried, since she was always drunk. Sometimes Adriel wished he had siblings, but then realized that it was wrong to wish such suffering upon anyone else.

So there was his reason. No money to play. But hey, all those lunch periods he was wasting went to a good cause! All his work was finished early, so he spent the time he would be working on homework at the library, learning life skills for the future. Cooking was especially useful since he had to do it himself.

Adriel had just started his last math problem for the night when the bell rang. Quickly finishing, he snapped his book shut as the other students shuffled in from lunch, most of them raving about the heated duel.

When class let out, Adriel immediately made a beeline for the library. Starting a business, operating a computer, developing a website. All handy…if he had the money to buy a computer and internet connection so he could start an online business with a website.

The sun was going down so Adriel decided to walk home before it got too dark. Three blocks away from his house, however, something grabbed him and pulled him backwards into an alley.

"Who are you?!" shouted Adriel, demanding a response. The thug who had abducted him just smirked before throwing a punch. Adriel dodged it and grabbed his opponent's wrist, twisting it behind the creep's back.

"I asked you a question," said Adriel, slowly increasing the pressure of his grip.

"Ow, ow, ow! Hey! Okay!" said the thug. Adriel let go and the man stumbled forward. "I'm a hired gun for some big shot guy. He told me to grab you and steal your cards."

_HOW STUPID IS THIS GAME?! _Adriel screamed to himself before coolly responding; "What cards? It's a stupid game. I don't waste my money on cards."

"Hey, don't make my job any more annoying than it already is. You're the Hunter, right?" asked the thug.

Adriel suddenly realized that this guy was confusing him for that kid who was dueling in the courtyard at lunch. The guy who looked pretty much the same as he did. "You've got the wrong guy. I know who you're talking about." he said stoically.

"Not gonna work. I guess I'll have to do this the hard way," said the thug, throwing another punch. Adriel dodged it and sweep-kicked the thug, knocking him off his feet. Before he hit the ground, Adriel kneed him in the back with such force that he bounced off of Adriel's leg. Finally, Adriel clasped his hands together and swung them down, smashing the thug's stomach. The man passed out and fell to the ground, something flying out of his pocket.

Adriel jogged over and picked it up. It was a small, steel deck box filled with cards and a white note. It read:

_KaibaCorp Order Confirmation form_

_ 1 (one) Drake model DuelDisk_

_ --Stainless Steel_

_ --Trademark KaibaCorp coloring_

_ --Two Gemini-model hologram projector projectiles_

_ --Complimentary set of 40 black card sleeves_

_ Titanium alloy composition upgrade (Drake)_

_ "Shadow" custom paint design (Drake)_

_ Self-projector upgrade (Drake)_

_ Total: $1,500.99_

Adriel stopped here in shock. How was he supposed to get that much money?! Even if he tried to steal it from someone, which was both dangerous and wrong, it still wouldn't be enough. "Damn..." he said. Then he noticed a note lightly written in the bottom corner.

_Boss already paid. Password is HUNTER, pick up at KC retail shop downtown._

Deciding to wait until tomorrow, Adriel pocketed his winnings and walked home, hoping no more stupid thugs would mistake him for this Hunter guy.


	2. In Your Best Interest

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

How was that for an introduction. ::Reads:: Well, not that good. You didn't even get to know Adriel's character! But that's okay, I'll try to introduce it more in this chapter when I add two more into the fray. And Adriel gets his DuelDisk!!!

Chapter Two introduces two of Adriel's classmates, Aldrai and Aarion.

**YuGiOh: Hallowed Darkness**

_In Your Best Interest_

Over the course of the night, Adriel found himself looking at the cards he had taken over and over again. After a few furtive glances, he noticed they seemed to fit together as a whole.

"Guess this is a deck, then." he muttered, getting ready for school the next morning. After a moment, he tossed the deck box into his backpack and left his house, remembering, as always, to take a key.

Class was just as usual. Adriel sat at the front and took notes, some girls behind him were muttering to each other like idiots, and a few guys in the back were sleeping. When lunch rolled around, Adriel pulled out his old lunchbox and quickly devoured his tiny meal. Putting it away, his hand brushed the cold steel of the deck box and he pulled it out.

"You too now?" asked the teacher in between bites.

"No," he started, realizing he couldn't tell the true story. "Some guy just gave me these last night, like it was his job to tell the world about this dumb game."

His teacher chewed slowly while Adriel said this. "Y'know, it might not be a bad idea for you to play. Maybe get some new friends?" Of course, what the teacher was alluding to was the fact that Adriel didn't seem to have friends. Adriel merely grunted.

As Adriel was thinking about the cards, two guys from his class walked up behind him.

"You know, that's a pretty good card." said Aarion.

Aarion was almost six feet tall, but not as tall as Adriel, shorter by about an inch. The two probably weighed about the same, Adriel being light and Aarion compensating with more muscle. Aarion's hair was dirty blonde and messy, a contrast to his blue eyes. His clothing was American. Ever since Japan dropped the dress code, American imports had skyrocketed. Aarion wore baggy blue jeans with a matching red tee shirt and open, white button-down with long, rolled up sleeves. A large brown leather belt with a steel buckle completed the look. His entire wardrobe was from Abercrombie and Fitch. Now that Adriel thought of it, he remembered that Aarion was an American transfer.

Rapidly, Adriel collapsed his fanned-out deck and stuck it in his pocket, turning to talk to the intruders. "Who asked you?" he stated curtly.

"No one, but since when do you play Duel Monsters?" replied Aldrai.

Aldrai was also a transfer, but he hailed from Ireland. As such, his attire was a bit more formal than that of Aarion's, but still much more casual than the old school uniforms. He wore simple khaki shorts and a navy blue tee shirt under an unbuttoned red overshirt. No logos to be seen, while Aarion was a walking billboard. Aldrai was the shortest of the three by an inch, making the unofficial trio look like a set of stairs if lined up in the right order. His hair was brown and straight with green eyes.

"Since I felt like it. Maybe I've been playing all along. It's none of your business." said Adriel. Inwardly, Adriel sized himself up against these two. He was truly Japanese with spiky black hair pushed forward into a Caesar cut and dark brown eyes. Adriel wore black cargo pants with a black tee shirt under a shortsleeve black overshirt, which he usually had buttoned up. Everything on him was black, from his watch to the lanyard around his neck. Attacked to it was an ornate silver medallion of sorts. As the tallest of the three with an intermediate attire, Adriel was fairly more mature looking, perhaps seeming as if he really belonged a grade higher than he was actually enrolled in.

"Fine, then duel me if you're so confident." challenged Aarion.

Adriel thought for a moment. Beating the two of them would get them off his case, but if he lost...Adriel didn't want to think about it. "I don't need to waste my time playing games with you.:

"In other words you don't know how to play. We can teach you," offered Aldrai.

"It's in your best interest," added Aarion.

Again Adriel receded into his mind for a moment. "Fine, teach me how to play this pathetic game." _That way I can defeat you and every other fool in this city._

Aarion grinned. "Well," he started, pulling out his deck. "The first thing to know is there are three major kinds of monsters..."

Over the course of the next week, Adriel learned the basics of Duel Monsters and also that his deck was filled with rare cards, but lacked strategy.

Finally, Aarion and Aldrai decided that it was time for Adriel to duel. "Adriel, your practice duels were really good for a beginner. I think it's time we found you someone to duel for real." said Aarion, proud of his work. "Now then, how about that guy over there?" he asked, pointing to a random face.

"Fine. My first victory will be today." said Adriel, walking over to the unsuspecting opponent. "Hey you! I challenge you to a duel!" he shouted.

Several people turned their heads, shocked that Adriel had finally joined in the hype. "Uh, sure..." said the boy, pulling out his DuelDisk. "I'm ready...where's your DuelDisk? Aren't we going to duel?" asked the boy.

Adriel felt blood rush to his cheeks. "You didn't tell me I needed one..." he muttered to Aldrai and Aarion, who had only trained him in tabletop duels.

"Eheheh...you can use mine!" said Aarion shakily.

"No, wait..." said Adriel, remembering that night in the alley. "I have one....sort of. I need to pick it up though. Can I duel you tomorrow?" he asked the boy.

"Sure! I'll hold you to it, though." he responded. Adriel nodded thankfully and sighed.

"Eheh....sorry Adriel!" said Aldrai overcheerfully. Adriel's eyes narrowed and he began to run after Aldrai and Aarion, who screamed and started running in the other direction.

Later that afternoon, school had let out and the three walked to the KC shop in downtown Tokyo. "So Adriel, what kind of disk do you have?" asked Aldrai.

Adriel pulled out his deck box and produced the white slip of paper. "Uh, it's a drake except it's made of titanium instead of steel and it has a custom paint job. I don't know what 'self-projector' means, though."

Adriel turned around and noticed his...friends...had stopped moving and their jaws were wide open.

"Dude, how did you get that?!" shouted Aarion.

"Yeah, that's gotta cost like...two thousand dollars!" added Aldrai.

"Two thousand five hundred to be more exact. Uh, I never told you how I got these cards, did I?" asked Adriel.

"No, not really," said Aarion, jogging to catch up to Adriel.

"Okay, one day after school, I was walking home from the library and this guy jumped me in the alley. He thought I was that Hunter guy that came to our school that one day."

Aldrai noted out loud; "Yeah, you do kind of look like him, now that I think of it."

"Whatever. Anyway, he tried to make me give him some cards, but since I didn't have any, I couldn't give him any. Then he tried to beat me up, but I was a better fighter than he was. So he got knocked out and fell over, and this box flew out of his pocket. I went and picked it up and this was inside."

"Whoa," was all Aarion could say. Aldrai was equally speechless.

Adriel opened the door of the KC store. "Hello," said the woman at the front desk. "How may we help you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I have an order for a DuelDisk and was told to pick it up here," said Adriel, doing all the talking.

"May I see your order confirmation please?" the woman asked politely. Adriel gave her the slip of white paper.

"Thank you." She typed in the order number and, sure enough, "Adriel's" order popped up on the screen. "Now then...you already paid for this but there's a password to pick it up...? Well I see the order form has the password written on it so I guess that's okay. One moment, please." The woman retreated into the back room and the three took a few moments to look around.

A few minutes later she emerged carrying a large box. "Here's your order sir, and congratulations on receiving a state-of-the-art Kaiba Corp product."

Adriel took the box. "Thank you," he said. He left with Aldrai and Aarion. "Hey, I'm going to go home, alright?" he said.

"Can we come with you?" asked Aldrai. Both Adriel and Aarion looked at him dumbfounded. "Uhh...I mean...why don't you open the box first?" he said.

"No, I don't want to do it here. I want to wait until I get home, but you'll see me duel with it tomorrow."

Sadly, Aarion and Aldrai nodded, turning at the corner where Adriel continued going straight. When Adriel got home, he went up to his room and opened the box. Forty black card sleeves were the first thing he pulled out. Nodding to himself, Adriel put them by his deck box.

Next was the User Manual. Adriel didn't bother. And finally, after piles of bubble wrap, Styrofoam, and those packaging peanut things, Adriel's hand made contact with something cold and metallic. He slowly wrapped his hand around a thin part and pulled it out.

His new DuelDisk was beautiful. There was no other word for it. It matched him perfectly! It was fairly large, but the card pads had telescoped into each other and stored themselves in the main compartment, only the top one protruding a bit. Most of the disk was black, with the card pads being a charcoal gray. This model moved the LP tracker from the main disk to a case that covered the card pads when they weren't in use, and added a tracker for the opponent's life points as well. It was solar powered, and the solar panels were located on the top of the disk where the KC logo was printed black on a circle that was the same charcoal gray as the card pads. Logically, this meant that the circle and the card pads were both solar panels.

The disk was already charged, as Adriel discovered when he attached it to his arm and the pads shot out. Adriel saw for a moment that they looked like a sort of shattered sword, connected by a telescoping metal rod. The pads furthest from the disc were smaller than the ones near it, since they had to fit into each other. But metal flaps pushed out as soon as they could, balancing the size. The disk's circuitry whirred to life and glowed silver for a moment. Adriel looked for the self projection system and found it, as he pressed a button and ten pieces of metal attached to the disk via cables shot off of the pads, one on the top and one on the bottom of each pad, and arranged themselves in a two by five rectangle.

Pressing the button again, the cables began to pull themselves back into the disk and the projectors returned to their spots. In awe, Adriel began to experiment with the disk for the rest of the night.


	3. The Top of Down Under

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Okay, I've waited until now to introduce dueling into the fic. So be happy, I'm back and the competition is about to begin!!!! (kind of...)

Chapter three introduces the last main character: Mystic.

_Ruling Alterations:_

I removed the attack restriction of Tribute Doll.

**YuGiOh: Hallowed Darkness**

_The Top of Down Under_

At school the next day, Adriel's backpack was bulging. "Let us see it!" said Aldrai.

"No," responded Adriel. "You're going to have to wait until lunch when I fight that kid from yesterday."

Aarion sighed. "Come on, Adriel! Just a peek! We won't even make you turn it on!" he said.

"Fine," said Adriel. He took the disk out of his backpack. Aldrai and Aarion goggled at it.

"Dude!" shouted Aarion. "My disk isn't anywhere near as cool as that!"

Aarion produced his own disk, a fairly common Draco model. It was a more advanced form of the disk used in BattleCity years ago with a sleeker, lighter build and a more stunning color scheme.

Without saying, Aldrai pulled his out as well. It was a Ryu model, almost identical to the Draco model with a few slight differences, but it operated the same way. The bladelike models were the more expensive ones.

"Well I don't know how it performs," lied Adriel, who had been experimenting with cards all night.

"We'll find out at lunch, won't we?" said Aldrai.

A few hours later, lunch finally arrived. Adriel, Aldrai, and Aarion were walking through the campus, looking for the same boy that was there the day before. How unfortunate that they should be challenged. "Hey, you three!" said a confident voice. The three turned to see Mystic Galloway, the school champion from Australia. He drew equal with Adriel's height and had steel-gray eyes. His hair was jet black like Adriel's and had a crew cut. His attire was a melding of Aarion's and Aldrai's with white cargo pants and a blue shirt with his school's insignia printed on it with an orange overshirt, unbuttoned.

"Yeah?" asked Adriel rudely, not knowing of Mystic's stature.

"What do you say to a duel? I mean, you've got a disk so I assume you can duel, right?" Mystic asked.

"I can duel fine." said Adriel.

"Wait, no he can't!" shouted Aldrai.

"Yeah, he's not any good!" added Aarion.

Adriel was about to yell something at them before Mystic altered the challenge; "Okay, that's fine. Then how about a three-on-one?" he asked.

"Okay!" chirped Aarion, fearing Adriel would do something...painful.

"I'll start," said Mystic, turning his disk on.

"Fine," replied Adriel, doing the same. The night before, Adriel had tried to wear the disk on his wrist and noted that it was fairly difficult to do. After reading the manual, he found that it was to be worn closer to the elbow. Everyone passing by stopped to see the duel, and they were all impressed by Adriel's disk. Almost as much as Mystic, Aldrai, and Aarion were.

"That's an impressive disk." said Mystic.

"Thanks," replied Adriel, sticking his deck in his disk. The other three did the same.

"Ready?" asked Mystic, pushing a button on his disk. Two holographic projectors launched themselves into the area.

"Yeah," replied Aldrai, doing the same with the same result. Aarion quickly followed, and six projectors were strewn across the area.

Adriel looked at his disk and tried to remember which button launched the projectors. "Right," he said, pushing the button. Ten small objects burst from the metal of the disk and embedded themselves in the ground.

"It's so cool!" said one person.

"Right," said Mystic, recovering. "Time to duel. I'll start with **Skilled Dark Magician** in attack mode!" (1900/1700) "Then, laying two cards face down, I'll end my turn."

Control of the duel passed to Adriel. "Okay, I summon **Swarm of Dragon Scales** in defense mode!" (1500/2500) "And since I have to offer one spell or trap card during each of my end phases to keep this monster, I'll set one card face down and end my turn." A card appeared on Adriel's side of the field before being eaten by the swarm and destroyed.

It was Mystic's turn again. "Interesting card...anyway. I summon my Dark Magician's counterpart, the **Skilled White Magician**, in defense mode!" (1700/1900) "Now it's Aldrai's turn."

Aldrai drew. "Okay, I'll summon **Gemini Elf** in attack mode!" (1900/900) "Then I lay one card face down and end my turn."

Mystic drew again. "It's gonna get interesting soon...I summon this monster in defense mode and end my turn!"

Finally, it was Aarion's turn. "I summon **Marauding Captain** to the field!" (1200/400) "And his effect lets me summon this from my hand! Go, **Zombyra the Dark**!" (2100/500) "Finally, I end my turn."

Mystic smiled. "And now it gets interesting. I play **Pot of Greed** to draw two cards from my deck!" Mystic drew his cards. "Furthermore, by flipping my **Magician of Faith** into attack mode, I retrieve my pot to use again!" Mystic used his magic to draw another two cards. "And in case you didn't know, I only have to play one more magic card to unleash the effect of my skilled magicians! So I play **Tribute Doll** to sacrifice my Magician of Faith and summon **Dark Magician**!" (2500/2100) "And since that was the third spell, I sacrifice both Skilled White Magician and Skilled Dark Magician to bring out **Buster Blader** and a second **Dark Magician**!" (2600500/2300 2500/2100)

"But wait!" Mystic continued. "All of those summons were special summons! So I now tribute my **Dark Magician** to summon **Dark Magician Girl**!" (2000300/1700)

"Hold on," said Adriel. "Why would you sacrifice a stronger monster for a weaker one?" he asked.

"Because of this!" shouted Mystic, playing **Polymerization**. "I fuse **Dark Magician** and **Buster Blader** to form **Dark Paladin**!" (2900500/2400) "And that means my Dark Magician Girl's attack is now 2600! If that wasn't enough, I plan to use both of my remaining cards! Go, **Sage's Stone** and **Knight's Title**!" Dark Magician Girl cast a spell on a stone that suddenly appeared in front of her, and the final Dark Magician burst onto the field, but was barely recognizable before it was transformed into a knight. (2500/2100) As the light receded, a beam of energy from the newest monster decimated Aldrai's hidden trap card.

The odds of winning were not looking good. Mystic had Dark Magician Girl with 2600 attack points, Dark Magician Knight with 2500 attack points, and Dark Paladin with 3400 attack points. And he still had two cards face down.

"Wanna give up?" asked Mystic. "You have no spells or traps and your monsters can't stand up to mine. No?" he asked, seeing the looks of determination on his opponent's faces. "Fine. Dark Paladin, attack **Swarm of Dragon Scales**!" As Dark Paladin was about to slash Adriel's monster, Aarion blocked it with **Zombyra the Dark**.

"Aarion!" shouted Aldrai as Aarion's life points fell to 2700.

"I'm fine..." said Aarion.

"Not for long. Because now I attack **Marauding Captain** with Dark Magician Girl!"

Another interception was thrown as Aldrai sacrificed his Gemini Elf to save Aarion, along with 700 of his life points. "Aren't you going to help us?!" he asked Adriel.

But Adriel had a plan. As Mystic took the bait and attacked with Dark Magician Knight, Adriel blocked with his Swarm. The attack drew even. "Yes," he told Aldrai.

"Very good, Adriel. Waiting until the opportunity was right. I commend you. Your turn." said Mystic.

Adriel drew. "Hm." he said, piecing his combo together. "Mystic, you have three spellcasters on your field, right?"

Mystic nodded. "Yes, why?"

"And three in your graveyard as well?" Again, Mystic nodded.

"Okay, thanks. I activate **Tag Team Match**!" The crowd watched as three semitransparent Dark Magicians appeared on the field and tapped the shoulders of Mystic's monsters. The three current monsters switched places with the Dark Magicians.

"Nice going, Adriel!" complimented Aarion.

"Anyway. If I'm correct, and I hope I am, I sacrifice my Swarm of Dragon Scales to summon **Dragon of the Thousand Blessings**!" (2450/2200) "This card has several effects that I can use. Firstly, I use its Life Point Settle effect. The life points of all players in the duel become equivalent. Meaning each of us should have..." Adriel quickly did the math in his head, "3500 life points. Next I'll use its ability to balance the number of cards in our hands. Each player draws cards until we all have the same number in our hand. You happen to get the most benefit from this, but we all should now have four cards...Aldrai and Aarion both have four already, and I get to draw one more."

Adriel smiled. "Perfect...in a way. I was hoping for a powerup card that could give my monster more attack points, but I prefer to simply summon **Dragon of the Thousand Curses** through my other dragon's effect from my deck in defense mode." (2450/2200) Several people wondered why it was in defense mode, but it didn't matter since Mystic's Dark Magicians were stronger anyway. "Now then. You know that this monster has as many effects as my other one, right?" he asked.

"I would say so," said Mystic, still confident.

"Good. Anyway, I activate this monster's most potent effect. You lose all of your spell and trap cards, and this card loses all of its attack points. Similarly, your monsters each lose half of their attack points if I lose life points equal to this monster's attack. Meaning I am now down to 1050 life points. But now I can destroy your monsters! Switching back to my Dragon of the Thousand Blessings, I can sacrifice 1000 of my life points to let it attack every monster on the field."

"But wait," said Mystic happily. "You can't attack! Aarion's **Marauding Captain** is still in attack mode!"

A book appeared in front of the Marauding Captain, and as it opened, the monster was sucked inside. The book dropped on top of Marauding Captain's card.

"Wait, what?" asked Mystic, confused.

"I activated **Book of Moon**. Helps when you have weaker monsters or flip effect monsters. In this case, Aarion's Marauding Captain is now in defense mode."

Adriel smiled. "Excellent. Now I will attack with Dragon of the Thousand Blessings! Go, Rain of Justice!" Adriel's dragon roared to the sky and meteors began to fall, striking every monster on the field. Adriel's other dragon was destroyed, but since it was in defense mode, Adriel took no damage. Mystic, however, was not so lucky.

"No! My trio of magicians!" he shouted as the three Dark Magicians shattered into pixels and Mystic's life points dropped by 3600, enough to win the duel!

The dust cleared and Mystic began to laugh a bit. "Excellent job Adriel, just excellent! Unfortunately, not excellent enough."

Adriel's mouth dropped open as Mystic's life points suddenly stopped falling at 1100 and Adriel's life points fell to zero. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"Well, I activated **Scroll of Karma** when my last Dark Magician was about to be destroyed, seeing as how each attack is still considered individual. The life point damage that would have been done to me was rerouted to you, meaning you are no longer a threat to me."

Adriel stood in shock as his lone dragon disappeared and his DuelDisk automatically shut off. "I lost my first duel...." he muttered.

"That's alright, dude!" shouted Aarion.

"Yeah, we both still have 3500 life points left! We'll win and then you'll win since you were on our team!" encouraged Aldrai. Leaving their friend to brood over his not-yet defeat, Aldrai and Aarion noted that the field was totally empty, Mystic's turn rolling around.

He drew. "Thanks to Adriel, I now have four cards, since I used Scroll of Karma from my hand. Now then..." Mystic considered his options. "I'll summon **Double Coston** in attack mode and set two cards." (1700/1650) "Then, I attack...hmm...neither of you can defend yourselves, so I'll attack...Aldrai!." Aldrai braced himself as the two identical ghouls shot through him, taking away 1700 of his life points and bringing him down to 1800.

"My turn," he said, drawing. "I summon **Breaker the Magical Warrior** in attack mode!" (1600/1000) Breaker burst forth from his card. "And since I just summoned him, he gets 300 more attack points!" Breaker's shield glowed and the gem in its center began to glow. "I'll now set two cards face down and attack Double Coston with Breaker! Attack now!"

Mystic grinned. "I activate my trap card **Magical Cylinders**!"

As the two cylinders appeared, Aldrai smiled. "I counter by activating my trap card, **Seven Tools of the Bandit**!" A pocketknife appeared, and as if a phantom were operating it, it dismantled the cylinders.

However, Mystic wasn't to be caught off-guard. "I counter by activating my own **Seven Tools of the Bandit**!" As the first pocketknife disappeared, a second one took its place and repaired the cylinders. Aldrai could only watch as 1900 points of damage were redirected at him, and he was blown out of the duel.

"So that's two of you out of the duel, and one more to go." said Mystic.

"But now you only have 100 life points left," said Aarion, hoping that Mystic wouldn't be able to summon another monster; "And with only one card in your hand, there's only a small chance that you'll be able to summon it out alongside your other monster!"

Mystic wasn't fazed. "Well, that's okay. Because since I just drew this card, you'll be finished!" He slapped a card onto his DuelDisk. "I play **The Shallow Grave** to bring back my **Dark Magician**!" The Dark Magician appeared in face down defense position on Mystic's side of the field as a hidden monster appeared on Aarion's side.

"And since you know it's the Dark Magician," Mystic said confidently, flipping his monster, "I will activate **Dedication through Light and Darkness** to special summon **Dark Magician of Chaos**!" (2800/2600)

"This monster's effect lets me draw a spell card from my graveyard and place it into my hand!" Mystic did so. "Time to once more activate **Pot of Greed**!" Mystic drew two more cards. "I'll start by playing **Raigeki** and destroying your monsters!" he shouted. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and eliminated Aarion's monster. "Now then, I'll attack you directly, Aarion!" Aarion was blasted by a wave of magic, and his life points fell to 700. "Your move," said Mystic confidently.

"You may have a strong monster, but you still only have 100 life points!" Aarion drew.

"Yes! First, I activate **Change of Heart** on your monster!" Dark Magician of Chaos hovered over to Aarion's field. "Then, I'll tribute it for **Total Defense Shogun**!" (1550/2500) Aarion grinned triumphantly. "Now I'll get revenge for the way you defeated my friends! Total Defense Shogun can attack while in defense mode, and I intend to have him do just that! Attack now!"

The shogun threw a blade at Mystic, who smiled and activated the last card in his hand. "You're going down just like Adriel did," he said as another **Scroll of Karma** was activated.

"No!" shouted Aarion as his life points fell to zero. Everyone's disks shut off and the duel was ended.

"Wow, you beat all three of us!" said Aldrai in wonder.

"I was the top duelist in my region back in Australia." said Mystic. "But you all got me down to 100 life points! And from what I hear, Adriel has no experience and you two aren't known for dueling..." he added, trying not to be offensive.

"Yeah, I guess..." said Aarion.

"Anyway, you all seem pretty good to me, you just need to work on your strategies a little bit. If you want, I can teach you."

"I'll do it," said Aarion, looking at his friends.

"Yeah, me too." agreed Aldrai.

_I lost to him and now he wants me to let him make me his student...no matter. I'll let him tell me his secrets and then I'll use them for my own good. He'll be sorry..._ Adriel thought while Aarion and Aldrai had agreed to Mystic's offer.

"I guess I don't have much choice, then."


	4. The Hunter's Hunters

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Cool, hoping you liked that duel. It took me a while and I'm trying for a weekly update schedule. That is, chapter four is on the site, but I won't upload it until next Saturday. This system will be insurance so that if I for some reason miss a week then it's still okay. A one-chapter pillow, but if things get really bad I might have to fall back to a bi-weekly schedule. If that happens then I'm going to try to get the cushion back before I resume a weekly update.

Leo is a character submitted to me by a friend, and Orion is my own character.

**YuGiOh****: Hallowed Darkness**

_The Hunter's Hunters_

"Wow..." was all Aarion could muster. Mystic had brought the group back to his apartment where he was staying. The Australian government had paid for the room, which was closer to a penthouse in size and accommodations.

"The government paid for all of this. I'm not an exchange student," Mystic explained.

"Well then why are you here?" asked Aldrai.

"Ehh...it's kind of confidential, but if you promise not to tell anyone..."

Aarion, and Aldrai all nodded vigorously.

"Well, it's because I can duel well."

The other three in the room kind of...keeled over in shock. "Wait, so since when did the government pay for an entire HOUSE just because you can play a card game well?" asked Aarion.

"Because there's going to be a worldwide competition soon. They sent me here to investigate the competition. I've got seven tournaments scheduled in the next two weeks."

"A worldwide tournament?" asked Adriel.

"Exactly. And even though it's going to be kids, every nation wants to be on top. It's going to be a really big deal. This place is a shack compared to the rooms for the finalists, or so I hear."

"Really?" asked Aarion.

"Yeah. Each continent is paying for its representative's lodgings."

"Wait, I thought you said nations?" asked Aldrai.

"Well the way I heard it works is that there's one giant tournament, then when a certain number of people qualify for the finals on their continent, there's a continental mini-tournament. Antarctica is obviously not participating because no one lives there. So that's North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. The winners of each continental tournament all go to the finals. In the finals, there are three duels with two participants each, and then there's one battle royale at the end. Opponents are chosen at random.

"So I not only have to compete with Japan, but all of Asia to just make it to the finals?!" said Adriel.

"Exactly. But it's not like two people from every nation compete. There's a set limit of competitors, no matter what country they hail from. Then you just have to beat them to get into the finals."

"And the prize?" Adriel asked.

"Uhh...for getting into your continental tournaments you get a box of any set of cards you want, plus a random card from an assortment of promos made especially for the tournament. For getting into the finals, you get a copy of every card ever made in addition to the entire set of tournament promos, and if you win it all, you get a KC unique disk with an entire deck of unique cards."

There was silence in the room. "How much would all that be worth?" asked Aarion.

"I don't know. A lot. If you win it all then the final prize alone will be worth millions to hardcore players and collectors." Mystic answered.

"Wow..." muttered Adriel.

The next day at school, the group of four wandered into the courtyard at lunch, searching for duels. "Hey...why does no one have their disks today?" asked Adriel.

Mystic stopped moving and his face paled. "Because the Hunter is returning today."

Suddenly, a chant was heard through the air; a battle cry of sorts.

"He's here..." whispered Adriel.

The Hunter walked through the gates, followed by two more duelists. Today, the Hunter was dressed in all black to complement his black hair perfectly. Black, baggy cargo pants, black tee shirt, black trenchcoat, black gloves, black sunglasses, and a DuelDisk which was apparently sprayed black. With charcoal gray card pads. Wait... "That's my disk." muttered Adriel.

The Hunter's two followers were both equally as sinister. For all anyone knew, they could have been brothers. Both of them had black hair like the Hunter's. The first grew his hair out longer, and it was limp by his cheeks. The second boasted a full head of spikes, close to the Hunter's Caesar style cut.

They both wore identical black trenchcoats that were the preferred garb of the trio. The first wore orange tinted sunglasses and the other a similar pair with a blue hue. They both held identical disks, the popular Wyrm model. Also in the shadow color scheme.

"We're back," said the Hunter.

"All hail the Hunter, master of the cards!" said the guy in the orange sunglasses.

"Shut up, Leo." snapped the Hunter. The other boy snorted.

"You too, Orion." the Hunter added. "Anyway, we're here to challenge you all again. And this time, I want to duel the champion of the school, not a bunch of wimps."

"Then duel us!" shouted Aarion.

"Quiet..." muttered Mystic.

"Are you good enough? Who are you?" asked the Hunter.

"I'm Aarion and I challenge you to a duel!" Aarion shouted.

"Never heard of you. Leo, Orion, you can take this one." the Hunter said casually.

"That's not fair!" shouted Aldrai.

"You want to join him? Fine. Leo, Orion, a two on two. However, we're playing by my rules. So none of your 'protect your friends' trash, you have to defend yourself." the Hunter commanded.

"Right," said Leo and Orion as they activated their disks.

"Duel!" shouted Aarion and Aldrai, activating their own disks.

"I'm going first," Leo said definitely, drawing six cards. "So I'm going to set this monster in defense mode and lay down two cards on the field. Your move...Aarion." Leo said, picking one of his opponents.

Aarion drew. "I summon **Warrior Dai Grepher** in attack mode!" (1700/1600) "Then I'll set a card face down and end my turn."

Orion drew a card. "I'll bring out **Armed Dragon LV3 **in defense mode!" (1200/900) "And then I'll end my turn."

Finally, it was Aldrai's move. "Alright! I set a monster on the field and also lay down two cards. Back to you, Leo."

Leo drew excitedly. "Hah! Now I'll flip my **V-Destructive Sword** into attack mode!" A glowing black sword appeared on the field. (1800/100) "And then I'll summon **Z-Metal Tank** in attack mode!" (1500/1300) The yellowish tank appeared next to the black sword, and it was fairly obvious what was about to happen. "Finally, I'll remove my monsters from play to special summon **VZ-Sword Tank** in attack mode!" (2400/1800) The sword flew under the tank and with a burst of electricity, the two fused together. "Now then. I'll attack **Warrior Dai Grepher** with my sword tank! Go!" From under the tank, the sword began to crackle with electricity and a bolt of energy flew from the blade at Aarion's warrior.

"Not so fast!" shouted Aarion. "You set off my trap, **Enchanted Javelin**! So I gain 2400 life points before my monster is destroyed. Then, since I only lose 700 life points, I essentially gained 1700. Thanks!" Aarion's life points rose to 5700.

"My move," Aarion said, drawing. "Now I'll summon the **Obnoxious Celtic Guard** in defense mode!" (1400/1200) "End turn."

Orion drew his card. "You didn't attack my dragon! Too bad, because now it levels up!" Suddenly, Orion's small dragon began to glow, and it grew larger. "Meet **Armed Dragon LV5**!" (2400/1700) "And this new monster has enough power to take out your guard! But it's not fair that you get attacked twice in a row while your partner stays safe. So Armed Dragon, attack Aldrai's facedown monster!"

The dragon let loose what looked like a stream of molten iron, striking Aldrai's facedown monster and destroying it. An old man was seen running around for a split second before exploding, but his staff flew into the air and landed in the crevice between Leo's monster's two components, effectively breaking it. Leo's monster exploded.

"You destroyed my **Old Vindictive Magician**, which let me destroy any monster on the field. And I chose the VZ-Sword Tank!" Aldrai said.

"No matter," said Orion confidently. "Because since I destroyed your magician, I can send my dragon to the graveyard to bring out its final evolution, **Armed Dragon LV7**!" (2800/1000) "However, I must now end my turn." said Orion.

"Which means that now it's my turn! Meaning I can go in for a direct assault!" Aldrai claimed, drawing a card.

"This monster card will do nicely. Come out, **Maha**** Vailo**!" (1550/1400) A blue-robed magician burst forth from Aldrai's card in a meditative position. "And this monster's special effect comes into play once I equip it with a card. So I'll use **Twin Swords of Flashing Light-Tryce**!" Aldrai's monster grasped two swords that appeared in front of it. "Normally, this card reduces the attack power of the monster it's equipped with by 500 points. But Maha Vailo's effect raises its attack power by 500 points for each equipped card. So the negative effect of my spell is cancelled out, and Maha Vailo can attack twice! Go Maha Vailo! Attack Leo twice in a row!"

As Maha Vailo moved in for the assault, it was stopped in its tracks. "Can't have that," said Leo. "So I activated **Negate Attack**. Your battle phase is over." Aldrai scowled and ended his turn.

"And now it's my turn again. So I'll defend myself by summoning **W-Wall Shield** in defense mode." (1500/1900) "Your move, Aarion."

Aarion drew a card. "I'll bring out **Goblin Attack Force**!" (2300/0) "This monster can only really attack once, but that'll be enough. Because I'll also play **Black Pendant** to raise its attack by 500, giving it 2800 attack points! So now I'll kamikaze my monster and attack your dragon!" By the Hunter's own rules, all Orion could do was watch as the attack force launched itself into his dragon, both monsters destroyed.

"What?!" shouted Orion as his life points dropped to 3500.

"That's the effect of my spell. When it's destroyed, you lose 500 life points. And now it's your turn." Aarion pointed out.

"True," Orion said, drawing. "And now I'll seal your fate. I summon **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV4**!" (1600/1000) A small, almost chickenish looking monster burst onto the field.

"You're going to take us out with that puny thing?" Aldrai joked.

"No, I'm going to take you out with this!" shouted Orion, playing a magic card. "Observe the magic of the card **Level Up!.** It makes my monster stronger." The four players watched as Orion's dragon crackled with orange energy and began to grow. "Now, observe as my monster is evolved into **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV6**!" (2300/1600)

"Oh," said Aldrai.

"And I'll take out your Maha Vailo with my new monster! Go, Horus dragon! Attack now!" With a burst of black energy, Maha Vailo was no more, and Aldrai had lost 750 life points.

"At least it's my turn again," said Aldrai.

"Not quite," said Orion, watching bemusedly as his dragon crackled with electricity once more.

"What?!" shouted Aldrai.

"I destroyed Maha Vailo. So now my dragon reaches its final evolution, **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV8**!" (3000/1800)

"Fine," said Aldrai, drawing a card. "I play **Monster Reborn** on **Maha**** Vailo** and then sacrifice it for this monster face down!" Monster Reborn appeared, pulling Maha Vailo back to the field before it left again, a face down monster guarding Aldrai.

"My move," said Leo. "Now I'll summon **X-Head Cannon** in attack mode!" (1800/1500)

"Let me guess, you're going to combine it with your shield." said Aarion.

"Not quite," said Leo, flipping a card on his field. "I flip **Ultimate Offering** to pay 500 life points and summon **Y-Dragon Head** to the field as well!" (1500/1600)

At last, everyone's life points were changed in some way. Leo had brought himself down to 3500, Aarion's had risen to 5700, Orion was at 3500, and Aldrai's were the lowest at 3250.

"Now I'll play **Premature Burial** from my hand to pay 800 life points and revive **VZ-Sword Tank**!"

The wheels in Aarion's head began to turn and he realized what had happened. "All five of the letter monsters are on the field!" he shouted.

"That's right," said Leo triumphantly. "And now I'll summon my most powerful monster."

The VZ monster separated itself into its five parts, and Aarion and Aldrai watched in horror as first, the Y-Dragon Head attached itself to the bottom of the X-Head Cannon, raising its attack to 2200 and its defense to 1900. Then, the Z-Metal Tank attached itself to the bottom of the Y-Dragon Head, raising the monster's stats to 2800/2500. The V-Destructive Sword attached itself to the underside of the fusion, raising its stats further to 3500/3200. Finally, the W-Wall Shield attached itself to the front of the monster, shielding the X-head's torso, raising the stats to a final 4000/3900.

"This monster is so powerful, it's rarely ever summoned. In fact, I've never even summoned it until this very moment! Its name is long, so while you say it to yourself, you have a few more moments to ponder your doom. Meet the **VWXYZ-Artillery Warrior**!"

Aarion stared in shock. "We're doomed..." he said.

"Not quite," said Leo. "This card can only attack every two turns, but when it happens to hit you in defense mode, it'll continue its attack straight to your life points. Unfortunately, I have to wait until next turn to attack you."

Aarion sighed in relief. "That's good...and now it's my turn." He closed his eyes and drew a card. "Well, why not..." he muttered, playing his card. "I play **Magnetic Metal**! This card lets me take one spell card from another player's deck. Now let me see your deck, Leo."

Leo gave Aarion his deck, annoyed. Aarion began to search through it. "I choose this one," he declared, showing Leo a card called **Assembly of Parts**.

"And now I activate **Assembly of Parts**! This card lets me-" Aarion began.

"Take a card from your deck or fusion deck that requires the tribute of specific monsters and summon it at the cost of 500 life points times its level, ignoring summoning requirements. Then, you can't attack with that monster." finished Leo.

"...yeah." replied Aarion. "I summon **Radioactive Valkyrion**!" (4000/4350) Aarion's monster appeared on the field as his life points dropped to 1700. "Then, I activate its effect!" he shouted as Valkyrion separated and his life points further fell to 200. "Valkyrion has separated into **Nuclear Warrior Alpha, Nuclear Warrior Beta, **and **Nuclear Warrior Gamma**!" (1600/1000 1900/600 1700/1200) Valkyrion's three composite monsters appeared, each with one colored orb flying around them on a specific trajectory. "And now I'll activate their effects by discarding five cards from the bottom of my deck to the graveyard!"

Five more orbs appeared around each warrior. "Go my warriors! Destroy them now!"

The orbs on each warrior split in half, and radioactive energy flooded Leo's and Orion's fields. "Now both of your monsters are gone, and neither of you have any more spells or traps on the field!" Leo and Orion stared in shock at the sudden emptiness of their fields.

"What's more, both of you have lost 2 cards in your hands. So I do believe that Leo has no hand, while Orion has three cards. Now to eliminate...Leo!" shouted Aldrai. "Alpha and Gamma will attack him, doing 3300 points of damage, enough to eliminate him. Then, Beta will attack Orion and bring him down to 1600 life points."

The former magnet warriors let off waves of energy, striking Leo and Orion. Leo fell, while Orion was severely damaged. "Fine," spat Orion. "But you have a mere 200 life points left, and it's my turn!" he said.

Orion drew. "Your magnet warriors will be your undoing! I summon **Mystic Swordsman LV2 **and play a second **Level Up!** to force it into evolving to the mighty **Mystic Swordsman LV4**!" (1900/1600) "And now I attack your Alpha, eliminating your life points and throwing you out of the duel!"

Orion's warrior charged Alpha, taking out the last 200 life points that Aarion had.

"It's up to you, now." said Aarion as Orion's monster leveled up to its final level. (**Mystic Swordsman LV6** 2300/1700)

Aldrai drew. _I have to draw the right card...or I'll never be able to destroy his swordsman! _he though. "Yes!" he called as he drew **Shield and Sword**. "I flip my **Neo Aqua Madoor** into attack mode!" (1200/3000)

"Why would you do that?" laughed Orion, noting that Aldrai's monster had 1200 attack points, while his had 2300.

"Because of this spell! Go, **Shield and Sword**!" Suddenly, the tables were turned. Aldrai's monster possessed 3000 attack points, and Orion's had only 1700. "And that's not all! I equip my monster with **United We Stand**, raising its attack to 3800! Now I attack your monster! Neo Aqua Madoor, Neo Ice Shards!"

A wave of ice crashed down upon Orion's monster, eliminating it and the rest of his life points. "No!" Orion shouted.

"We won!!!" shouted Aarion with glee.

"And according to your rules, Hunter, your two lackeys have to give up a card to my friends," added Mystic, rubbing proverbial salt into the wound.

"Who said? We didn't." answered the Hunter calmly.

"It's all in here," said Mystic, pulling out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" asked Orion.

"It's your code," replied Mystic. "The very one you read the first day you started terrorizing the school. And according to this," he continued, "The victor of the duel gets any card from his opponent's deck. And since both of you lost, you both have to give up a card."

"We can beat them up and leave," suggested Leo.

"No, we keep to the code. We're honorable." chastised the Hunter.

Aldrai snorted. "You have as much honor as a backstabbing thief," he accused.

"You wanna test that theory?" asked Orion, cracking his knuckles.

"Shut up and let them pick a card so we can leave," said the Hunter, tired of the squabbling.

"Fine," said Leo, slapping his deck into Aarion's outstretched hand. Orion followed suit.

Aarion and Aldrai thumbed through the two decks and picked cards, flashing them at their original owners.

"**Assembly of Parts**," said Aarion, showing Leo the card that he had taken. "It worked before, so I think it'll serve me well later."

"And I'll take this one, **Forced Evolution**." declared Aldrai, holding up a card that was never played in the duel.

"Fine," said the Hunter. "Now let's go."

He turned to leave, Orion and Leo following, but Mystic was standing in his way. "Move, punk. I can't duel you today, that took way too long. You're lucky I'm not in a horrible mood, or I'd just take your cards."

He moved to push Mystic away, and another arm blocked him. "You too? I've never even seen you before! How could you possibly be a threat to me?" the Hunter laughed, pushing Adriel out of his way.

"I challenge you!" Adriel retorted.

"Fine, get ready to give me all your cards!" the Hunter shouted.

"Adriel, no! When you duel the Hunter, you can lose your best card!" Mystic cried.

"Are you that worried about him? Then you can duel, too. But then you'll lose your best card as well." the Hunter said, prepared to play a two on one.

"Great. Let's duel." said Adriel, preparing his disk.


	5. Student and Master

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Heh...sorry...that took forever...I have writer's block like you don't even know. Even you, RS, even though I know you don't read this. A three way duel between the Hunter and Mystic/Adriel. Can they stand up to it? We'll see. Remember that Adriel's deck has been jacked up a bit and Mystic...well, Mystic has his own tricks.

For anyone who is interested, the Hunter uses old-school dragons (dragons that exist in the TCG) while Adriel uses new-school dragons (stuff I make up) as well as other cards that match. Oh, I forgot to mention. The Hunter's deck is my own. With a little bit added in, and by a little bit I mean custom cards, of course....ah heck, I'm done with the chapter now and as I look back I notice that it's a ton different from my deck.

And a personal note to Mystic himself...I'm using most of your bio from last time, and I'm including the part about the supernatural obsession.

**YuGiOh****: Hallowed Darkness**

_Student and Master_

By now, a circle had formed around the group of duelists. Each player drew five cards. "Since I was the one who challenged you, you can go first," said Adriel calmly.

"Great. I'll start things off by summoning a card in defense mode, along with two cards face down." said the Hunter, the turn control given to Mystic.

"Well I'm going to set a card in defense mode as well, and place one card face down." Mystic said.

"I guess I could let you take your turn," said the Hunter to Adriel, turning the duel into a triangle rather than a trading of blows.

"Bad mistake. I summon **Team of Dragon Claws** in attack mode!" (2000/1800) "And to keep this card on the field, I have to remove one card in my graveyard from play during each of my end phases, or this card gets sent to the graveyard. To meet this requirement, I play **Pot of Greed** to draw two cards into my hand, bringing my total count to 6 again. And I'll place two of those cards face down." As Adriel ended his turn, Pot of Greed appeared on the field again as the team of claws slashed it through vigorously, removing it from play.

"And now it's my turn again," said the Hunter a bit too cheerfully. "I flip my **Masked Dragon** into attack mode and sacrifice it for **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV6**!" (1400/1100 2300/1600)

"But wait," said Adriel. "I thought that you had to play a weaker monster to first summon that Level 6 thing!" he said in confusion.

"Silly idiot, that's only the most advantageous way to do it! You can still summon this monster normally. Anyway, I attack your stupid dragon claws and eliminate them!" As the Hunter's monster breathed a stream of black fire upon Adriel's claws, the attack was absorbed into an ornate cylinder and thrown back at the Hunter, dropping his life points to 1700.

"That was my **Magic Cylinders**," said Mystic confidently. "My my, you lost half your life points already?" he teased.

"You can't do that! My rules state that you can't defend your partner!" the Hunter raged.

"And yet I could. Because we never said we'd play by _your_ rules." Mystic explained.

"Fine! I set a card and end my turn!" shouted the Hunter.

"And now it's my turn." said Mystic. "To get your dragon off our backs, I flip **Old Vindictive Magician** and destroy it!" Mystic shouted. (450/600) An old, feeble looking magician in red armor appeared on the field and poked the dragon with its staff. The Horus monster's armor began to crack and it fell apart completely.

"To add insult to injury, I now summon **Chaos Command Magician** and attack you directly! This was the fastest duel in history!" Mystic said, not even bothering to look at his monster. (2400/1900)

"Things aren't over yet," said the Hunter. "I activated **Sakuretsu**** Armor** which destroys your attacking monster. So now neither of us has a monster to defend with," he said.

"Well it's my turn again," said Adriel. "And I summon **Spirit of the Zodiac**!" (1200/1200) Adriel slapped a monster onto his DuelDisk. Behind it was a glowing image of the Chinese zodiac. "Even though this isn't a dragon monster, it works well with the theme. Because I can sacrifice it immediately to summon a monster from your graveyard! But I lose 1200 life points in the process. It doesn't really matter, because now I get your **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV6**!"

The Hunter visibly blanched as his own monster was resurrected on Adriel's field. "Furthermore, I'll play **Monster Reborn** to return **Chaos Command Magician** to the field!" (2400/1900)

"Are you afraid, Hunter? I have three monsters, all of which have over 2000 attack points. You have no monsters. So I attack now!"

As Adriel's monsters flew across the field, a shining blue barrier erected itself in front of the Hunter. "You just triggered **Mirror Force**! It destroys all three of your monsters, regardless of power! And since it's my turn..." said the Hunter ominously as Adriel's three monsters exploded, "You'll be sorry you attacked. I summon **Red-Eyes B. Chick** and immediately tribute it to summon **Red-Eyes B. Dragon **in attack mode!" (2400/2000)

Adriel and Mystic both unconsciously backed away from the new threat. The Hunter decided to save Mystic, who had an empty field, for later. "Now I attack you, Adriel, since you're so arrogant for a nobody!" The Hunter's dragon let off a glowing red ball of energy that crackled with black lightning as it struck Adriel, removing all but 400 of his life points.

"Adriel!" shouted Mystic.

"I'm fine...just draw something useful!" Adriel shouted.

"Okay..." said Mystic, drawing his card. "I think I might have drawn just the thing. I'll play one of my favorite cards! It was given to me by my homeland's government before I left to make sure I-" Mystic said, suddenly cut off by the Hunter.

"Shut up and play it already!" the other boy shouted.

"Fine, I will. I remove from play **Chaos Command Magician** and **Old Vindictive Magician** to special summon **Dark Druid-Envoy of the Past**!" (3000/2500)

The Hunter immediately realized that if he were to win, this would be his ultimate prize. A card exclusive to Australia, the third Envoy burst onto the field. The Dark Druid was yet another member of the Dark Magician family, wearing deep purple hooded robes fringed with gold, a suit of darker purple armor with a matching gold etching over the garments. His staff was made of a purple metal with golden rings hovering both above and below his hand, a sparkling yellow orb on top, caged by four rounded prongs. As always, the signature hat of his family was perched proudly on top of his head.

"As with the other two envoys, this one has a few special abilities. First of all, you can no longer activate spell cards, unless you pay 500 life points first. Also, you can't activate trap cards period, as long as I remove one of my own face down cards to get rid of your trap. Second of all, I can discard either a spell card or a spellcaster monster from my hand to allow this monster to attack again any time during my battle phase, but just once. Now I'll aim for your dragon! Go, Dark Druid! Dark Chaos Magic Attack!"

The orb on the druid's staff began to glow white, and a beam of energy fired from it, inverting the appearance of the area around it. When it hit the Hunter's dragon, the other monster began to devolve back into the Red Eyes B. Chick, and even back into an egg, until it was finally no more. With a popping noise, a burst of energy flew out of the spot where the Hunter's dragon used to be, and the dragon was no more. The Hunter's life points were dropped down to 1100.

"I'll stop you," said the Hunter, seething.

"No you won't," retorted Adriel. "It's my turn. And as long as I draw a monster, you're finished!" Adriel closed his eyes and drew a card. "This will work nicely. I'll summon **Twin Dragon Eyes** to the field!" (1500/1000) "Unlike my other monsters, I don't have to pay anything to keep this one on the field. Then again, it's pretty weak in comparison, but since you have no way of stopping me, I see that won't be an issue. So I attack you now, and eliminate you from this duel! Give us back all the cards you've unfairly taken from any duelist!" Adriel shouted as the two eyes glowed and shot off a beam of fiery red energy.

"Not so fast," said the Hunter. "I play my face down card, **Messianic Dragon Conversion**!" Adriel's dragon eyes instantly vanished.

"What does your card do?" asked Adriel, confident that even if his monster was gone, the attack would go through.

"It allows me to take the attack points of your monster, double them, and summon a dragon monster with an attack equal to the doubled value or less in attack mode. Lucky you, though, because your attack is negated and I can't attack the turn after my monster was summoned. However, I also get to take away life points from one of my opponents equal to one hundred times twice level of the destroyed monster. And it says on the card that your eyes were level four. Since it wouldn't be fun to get rid of you...I bring down Mystic's life points to 3200. And now for my monster..."

Adriel grimaced as he performed the said operation, multiplying 1500 by two and getting...3000. "Oh no..." he said, knowing what would come next.

"Oh yes!" shouted the Hunter. "I summon the **Blue Eyes White Dragon**!" (3000/2500)

What was once a legendary beast a little over a half century ago burst onto the field. That wasn't to say that the Blue Eyes White Dragon wasn't still a fearful sight, but ever since Seto Kaiba I died, cards such as the Blue Eyes began to be mass-produced.

Adriel ended his turn, his field now empty except for his two facedown cards with five cards in his hand.

"And now it's my turn." said the Hunter. He drew his card and looked as if he had already won the duel. "I tribute my **Blue Eyes White Dragon** to summon **Horus**** the Black Flame Dragon LV6**!" he shouted.

Everyone watching looked confused. "Why?" asked Adriel, not knowing why one would tribute a stronger monster for a weaker one, especially when a monster like Mystic's druid was on the field.

"You'll see," said the Hunter.

"Not quite!" shouted Adriel, snapping out of his funk. "I play **Bottomless Trap Hole** to remove your monster from play!"

The Horus dragon boomed onto the field, only to be sucked into a bottomless pit and disappear.

"Oh well, that wasn't my plan," said the Hunter. "My plan is to use my dragon to summon my own envoy!" he shouted

"No!!" shouted Mystic, instinctively knowing which envoy was in the Hunter's deck.

"Yes!" shouted the Hunter. "I remove from play **Blue Eyes White Dragon** and **Red Eyes B. Dragon** to special summon **Chaos Emperor Dragon-Envoy of the End** to the field!"

The spirits of the Hunter's previous dragons could be seen flying into the card the Hunter had in his right hand as he slapped it down onto his disk, and a dragon even more fearsome than the Blue Eyes White Dragon appeared on the field.

"Tremble in fear! I activate my monster's effect! By paying 1000 life points, I can destroy every card in all of our hands and fields to inflict three hundred points of damage times the number of cards destroyed to both of your life points! And that comes out to...3300!" he shouted after doing a bit of math.

Adriel and Mystic both stared in shock as their fields were blown away, and their life points both fell down to zero, Mystic's by a mere 100 points.

"We lost...we both lost..." muttered Adriel.

"Of course you did!" shouted Leo from the sidelines. "No one can beat our boss!" he jeered.

"Now hand over your best cards so we can leave," said the Hunter. Sadly, Mystic handed over his druid as Adriel gave the Hunter an equally rare card.

"Later," said the Hunter, leaving with Leo and Orion.

"It's okay..." said Aarion, trying to find some way to comfort his friends.

"No it's not...I keep on losing. WHY DO I ALWAYS LOSE?!" shouted Adriel, screaming at the top of his lungs. A few duelists who were watching the duel panicked and ran off.

"We're going back to my place," Mystic announced.

"Why? Just so I can lose more of your cards?" Adriel cursed at himself, noting that the card he lost was originally Mystic's.

"I don't care. Honestly, I don't. Apart from my deck, all the cards I brought with me were given to me by the government." Mystic said, not wanting to let Adriel give himself more reason to feel sorry for himself.

"...Fine." said Adriel, getting up and shoving his disk rather roughly back into his backpack. No one dared to stop them when Mystic, Adriel, Aldrai, and Aarion walked right out of school.

The knob of Mystic's door clicked as the key was turned, and Mystic opened the door, walking into his apartment. He passed through the living room and into his bedroom, fetching his briefcase of cards. "Help yourselves...whatever makes your strategy better."

Aldrai and Aarion dug right in, totally gutting the case of cards. Adriel, however, took a seat on Mystic's bed and stared blankly into space. A half hour later, Mystic finally gathered up enough courage to try and talk to Adriel. "Adriel? You alright?"

Mystic got no response. He tried again. "Adriel, please respond..." Still nothing. The Australian sighed, but suddenly tensed.

"What's up, Mystic?" asked Aldrai, noticing Mystic's rigid posture.

"There's some sort of presence in here..." Mystic replied.

"_No matter what I do, I'll always keep on losing."_ said Adriel to himself, focusing on nothing.

"_I'm not good enough. I can't play the game." _he thought. He didn't even notice the darkness that clouded his vision.

"If failure is what you fear, then follow my voice..." said someone.

"Who are you..." asked Adriel apathetically.

"Someone who can bring you great power. Someone who will pull you out of this bog of defeat." the voice said in a promising tone.

"And why would you bother helping me..." said Adriel, still completely uncaring.

"Because you are a rare yet perfect match for the source of power that I control." the voice answered.

"...Fine." said Adriel, not really wanting to move from his self pity.

"Look into the light...I'll take care of the rest." the voice said soothingly. Adriel's vision slowly became a blinding shade of darkness.

Mystic was up in a defensive position, while Aldrai and Aarion were slowly inching backwards. "Mystic...what's happening?" asked Aarion, unknowing but still aware of the presence that was in the room.

"Someone has overtaken Adriel's soul." Mystic responded as Adriel was suddenly swallowed in some sort of black sheet.

"What is that?!" shouted Aldrai.

"No clue," said Mystic. "But I have a feeling that I know what happens next."

The sheet around Adriel began to constrict while twisting itself. Small tears began to appear, and as Adriel rose into the air, curled up in a fetal position, the cloth ripped completely, forming a faded black, hooded cloak that hung over a purely black set of robes. His entire garb looked extremely worn and tattered, and the aura of darkness that was emanating from the boy felt incredibly weak as well.

"He's undergoing some sort of transformation. We have to snap him out of it." said Mystic, producing a dream catcher from under his pillow.

"One of those things?" questioned Aarion.

"Yes, one of those. I did a bit of research and according to the legends that are associated with dream catchers, different gemstones are associated with different healing aspects. Mine has been blessed with stones that cleanse the spirit. So if I use this in a way that the Native Americans didn't figure out, I might be able to bring Adriel back."

Mystic closed his eyes and focused, the stones on his dream catcher glowing slightly. The darkness around Adriel began to subside, and Mystic sighed, opening his eyes again. "That was weird, but it should be over now." he said, reassuring Aldrai and Aarion.

Mystic turned to face his two friends, whose jaws were both dropped. They were staring at the figure behind the Australian. "What? Did I blow him up or something?" Mystic asked.

"Not quite," said a harsh voice. Mystic spun around to see Adriel floating in front of him in a posture that displayed his full power. Adriel's clothes were suddenly more impressive, his robes and cape both changing from their rough, punctured fabrics to smooth, flawless ones, both retaining their original color with an added luster.

"Who are you?" asked Mystic tensely.

"Not one to trifle with," said Adriel as he telekinetically strapped his DuelDisk onto his arm, attached his deck box to the disk, swiped a few cards, and jumped out of the window.

"What the-" shouted Aldrai, running to the window with Mystic and Aarion. Even though the apartment was twenty some stories off the ground, Adriel had already vanished.

"Adriel..." muttered Mystic softly, wondering what had happened to his friend.


	6. Ryu the Sovereign

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Well, in my searching of and my procrastination, I found yet another excellent author. This one goes by the alias of WolfGeneral and is the author of the Demon Duelist Legacy series. Look him up because I'm not sure what does to URLs or whatever...

He's better than me at making custom cards, which is truly saying something. A ton of the dragon cards in the fic starting now will be his creations. BTW yes, I have received permission from him to use these cards.

**YuGiOh: Hallowed Darkness**

_Ryu the Sovereign_

Adriel found himself in robes, lying sprawled on the stony, cold ground in a dark room. "Where am I?" he asked no one.

"You are in my realm," said a voice. Adriel pushed himself up and began to cautiously scan the room for any sound, smell, or sight that would alert him to another presence.

"Who are you?" Adriel asked.

"I am Ryu, and I am your master." Adriel was about to speak again before 'Ryu' cut him off. "To answer your next questions, I want you because you are a legitimate candidate to become my avatar. I was the one who talked to you earlier. Your friends are safe. I have no intention of harming them. I have no intention of harming you, either. I am everywhere in this room, but I will shortly materialize in front of you. I want to duel you. I will not take any cards from you if you lose."

Adriel fell silent and relaxed himself slightly as he felt something appear in front of him. A faint rustling noise could be heard, followed by a sharp cracking sound. A minute explosion illuminated the area around Adriel, and he saw that he was facing someone who was not human. The fire split into five tongues and flew into torches on the circular wall around the two of them, and the room slowly began to shift into focus.

"My name is Ryu," said the...creature, restating what he said before. "I am the sovereign of dragons." he said. Taking a closer look, Adriel realized that Ryu looked a bit dragonic himself.

"My deck..." muttered Adriel, not wanting to duel this anomaly.

"Is on your DuelDisk. Which is on your arm, if you hadn't noticed."

Adriel took the time to marvel at the lightness of his DuelDisk, which he had indeed not noticed. "Fine...I'll duel you. It's not like I have anything to lose," he said, activating his DuelDisk.

"Not true," said Ryu, producing his own deck and disk. "If you lose, you lose your body." the sovereign said.

"WHAT?!" shouted Adriel. "You said that if I lost, nothing would happen to me!"

"Again, you are a liar." said Ryu calmly, inserting his deck into his disk, which looked like it was made from a black metal. "I said that if you lose, you will not lose any cards."

"...Well, you said you have no intention of harming me!" Adriel shouted, a bit afraid but mostly angry.

"I don't. Separating your soul from your body won't hurt you. You just won't be corporeal any more." Ryu said, his disk now activated.

"Fine. I won't lose, though." Adriel said, drawing his five-card starting hand. "Freak." he added, drawing his sixth. The insult seemed to pass over Ryu's head peacefully.

"I summon **Twin Dragon Eyes** to the field!"(1500/1000) Adriel shouted as a pair of black eyes with stunning blue irises and no pupils appeared at his side. "Its effect allows me to-" he started. Once again, Ryu cut him off.

"Artificially attack," said Ryu. "I know that this monster's effect lets you 'attack' by doing 1500 points of damage to a monster, or in this case my life points. I told you, I am the sovereign of dragons. And I know what you intend to summon." Ryu finished as his life points dropped to 2500.

"Whatever. I set two cards and end my turn," Adriel said.

"I summon **Gaius the Earth Dragon** in defense mode. Then, I set three cards face down." (500/2200) said Ryu.

"Not much of a challenge so far." Adriel said. "I summon **Swarm of Dragon Scales** in attack mode!" (1500/2500) "Now I activate two of my **Attraction of Shards** trap cards to special summon **Team of Dragon Claws** and **Gemini Dragon Wings** to the field from my deck!" (2000/1800 1900/2200)

Suddenly, Adriel had four powerful monsters on the field and Ryu was left only with his Gaius. "But that's not all!" shouted Adriel, "I play my **Polymerization** card from my hand to fuse all four of my monsters to summon **Dragon Monarch Husk** to the field!" (2750/3000) Adriel discarded one of his three remaining cards to the graveyard. His four monsters arranged themselves in such a way that they appeared to be a dragon, although they were still obviously not bound together.

"What? No **Dragon Animated** monster to complete the fusion?" asked Ryu skeptically. "All you have is an empty husk! And you know that it can't attack, even if it can't be destroyed, either. I hope you have the soul in your hand, or I'll have to summon Rahu the Dragon Monarch myself."

Adriel scowled as he realized that Ryu wasn't bluffing. He actually did know every card in Adriel's deck, even if it was simply because he knew every dragon card in existence. "Well I can't summon another monster this turn, you idiot." said Adriel. "Besides, did you forget that control of the Dragon Monarch Husk can't change?" he said, confident that he had just found a gap in Ryu's knowledge.

"Hmm...this is normally true. But I have a card in my deck that overrides that little problem. Let's see..." Ryu drew, and Adriel held his breath in anticipation. "Ah darn, not it. But wait, could it be on the field? Perhaps. Perhaps not. However, I can still defeat you with ease. I activate **Dragon's Gathering** to special summon **Infernus the Pyro Dragon** to the field!" (2200/2000) Next to Ryu's prone earth dragon erupted a dragon that was alight with flame.

"Okay..." muttered Adriel. "Neither monster can defeat what I have on the field."

Ryu allowed himself to crack a smile. "That's where you're wrong. Because of the effect of my Dragon's Gathering trap card, Infernus and Gaius are forced to immediately fuse!"

Adriel watched with apprehension as Ryu's two monsters melded, the earth that composed Gaius cracking and splitting open to vent red-orange flames. Its entire body was glowing. "My two monsters have become only the first of my mighty dragons! Meet **Magmus the Lava Dragon**!" (2450/2100)

Adriel chuckled. "It's still not strong enough." he pointed out. Indeed, Magmus lacked a good 300 points to be able to even match Adriel's soulless corpse.

"That's why I will activate my monster's special ability." Ryu said calmly. "I can pay life points in multiples of 200 that are less than or equal to 1000 in total. Then, for every 200 life points I pay, your monster loses 100 attack and defense points while mine gains 200 attack and defense points. And I pay 400 life points!" (Adriel-3700 Ryu-1100)

Adriel watched as Magmus breathed a thick stream of molten lava at his monarch husk. The dragon parts didn't corrode, but they were clearly being taxed by the goo. (2550/2800) Similarly, this expunging of lava seemed to relieve a burden Magmus was carrying. (2850/2500)

"Now then, I attack your husk with Magmus!" shouted Ryu.

Adriel was defenseless as Magmus flew into the air and crashed into Adriel's Dragon Monarch Husk and lost form, molding itself into a molten sphere. This ball imploded, and the pieces flew back over to Ryu, reforming into Magmus. Adriel's monster was still standing. "It's my turn," said Adriel. "And since you brought it up during your turn, I'll summon **Dragon Animate** to the field and equip it to my husk!" (1900/1000) "Then, I'll fuse the two through Dragon Animate's effect to form **Rahu the Dragon Monarch**!" (3750/4000) A deep blue mist began to flow around Adriel's monarch, and it suddenly flew into the monster, filling all the gaps. The result was truly astounding. Rahu's original four parts had finally set in, and their ebony black tone contrasted starkly with the pulsating blue 'flesh' that had morphed Rahu into the monster it truly was. Rahu let out a gigantic roar that sent flecks of Magmus flying.

Ryu was unimpressed. "Like I've never seen that monster before. It doesn't matter, because I activate my quickplay spell card, **Hireling**!" On Ryu's side of the field, a spell card flipped up and a giant purse of gold appeared on his side of the field. "I now have to pay one card from my deck during each of my end phases, but your Rahu card is now mine!"

"Rahu shares the effect of my previous monster! Control of it can't change!" Adriel protested.

"I beg to differ. The effect of Hireling only works on monsters of level 9 or higher. Rahu is level 10. And Hireling negates the effects of any monster it targets. So as long as I can pay, Rahu is mine now."

Adriel grimaced and set a card. "I end my turn." he said.

Ryu drew. "I activate the spell card **Fusion Gate**!" As he said this, a swirling vortex appeared above the two duelists and a green grid enveloped the field. "Now I will create another fusion by tributing both **Haze the Smoke Dragon** and **Shine the Light Dragon** from my hand!" (0/0 0/0)

Ryu's two monsters flew into the air and into the vortex. The abyss flashed a few times before spitting out a monster made out of some combination of smog and light. (0/0) "What purpose did that serve?" asked Adriel.

"My monster, **Shroud the Mist Dragon**, has some very special abilities. It can't be attacked. Plus, it's used as an all-purpose defender. But we'll get to that later. Actually, we won't. You have no monsters on the field. I, on the other hand, have three, even if Shroud has no attack points. So it's been fun, but I definitely expected better. Attack, Rahu and Magmus!" Ryu's two monsters let off simultaneous attacks. Rahu's attack was a blue bolt of energy followed by a whirlwind of plasma created from one of its wingbeats, and Magmus attacked again with its bombardment tactic.

"Activate trap card **Waboku**!" Adriel flipped a card, and three robed priestesses appeared on the field. "Neither of your monsters will harm my life points this turn," said Adriel.

Ryu closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine, delay the inevitable. It's not like I have anything better to do. The dragonoid discarded a card from the top of his deck and ended his turn.

Adriel drew unsteadily. He stole a quick glance at his card before throwing it onto his disk. "I play **Change of Heart**!" he shouted.

"You know you can't get Rahu back, don't you?" asked Ryu. "My trap was an exception."

Adriel smiled weakly. "Yeah, but I wasn't aiming for Rahu. I want Magmus."

Ryu frowned. "You know Rahu's special ability makes that of Magmus fairly useless, right?" he asked.

"That's what I'm counting on." Adriel said as Magmus slid to his side of the field.

"Now I use Magmus' ability by paying 1000 life points!" Adriel's total slipped to 2700. "As per Magmus' effect, its attack is now 3450, since last turn's boost wore off. And Rahu is left with 3250, which is just enough for me to slip by! Attack, Magmus! Lava Impact!"

Magmus, who was looking extremely energetic, pounced upon Rahu and melted instantly, the monarch never having a chance to dodge. Adriel wasn't expecting Shroud to join the fray.

"What's going on?" Adriel asked.

"Well, one of Shroud's abilities is going off. It's seeping into Magmus' body, dismantling it into its two components. Which means both Infernus and Gaius just attacked Rahu."

Adriel paled. Infernus had 2200 attack, which was tolerable, but Gaius had a mere 500! Dolorous calculations revealed that Adriel had just lost 3800 life points, knocking him out of the duel. But for some reason, Adriel was left standing.

"You know, I really hate monster effects." moaned Ryu.

"Too bad," said Adriel, whose life points had only dropped to 1900. "Thanks to my Dragon Monarch Husk's effect, I can remove it from play to reduce any damage I might take by 3000."

Adriel knew he was alive for now, but his field was empty. "End turn," he said.

"You're finished!" shouted Ryu. "I draw, but that doesn't matter. Rahu, attack!"

The now-rejuvenated Rahu spewed a stream of energy at Adriel, only to have it completely dissipate along the way.

"I really, really hate monster effects..." whined Ryu through gritted teeth.

"What happened?" asked Adriel.

"Shroud's effect prevents me from attacking the turn after its effect is activated. So now I have to end my turn." Ryu discarded another card from his deck and signaled to Adriel.

_Luck is on my side..._ thought Adriel, drawing. _These two cards work perfectly together...but even that might not be able to stop Rahu. I guess I have to try though..._ he said. "I use the effect of your Fusion Gate to fuse the two cards in my hand. Now I choose to bring out **Infusion Dragon**!" (?/?)

Two dark forms shot into the vortex and one descended back onto the field. It was shapeless. "How can you even tell that's a dragon?" asked Ryu, although he knew what would happen. _There's no way Adriel would know what to do..._ he thought to himself.

"I use the effect of Infusion Dragon to first take Rahu's power! Since I'm not actually taking Rahu itself, Rahu's effect is useless."

Some of Rahu's aura flew into Adriel's Infusion Dragon. "Surely you know what happens now," said Adriel in an almost mocking tone.

"Of course. Rahu loses half its attack and your monster gains that attack. Then, you will take the effect of Shroud and duplicate it into your monster. Finally, you can infuse your monster with your own life points to increase its attack." Ryu said, now confident that he would win.

"Precisely. So now that my monster has 1875 attack, I will infuse it with another 1100, which is exactly enough to kick you out of the duel!" (18751100/0)

"Attack Rahu now!" shouted Adriel. Infusion Dragon rose from the ground and took on a shadowy form that was a melding of Adriel, Rahu, and Shroud. It glowed intensely and let off a stream of white energy that looked like Rahu's basic attack.

But something went horribly wrong. Instead of counterattacking, Rahu crouched low to the ground and protected itself with its wings. "What?!" shouted Adriel, shocked.

"When you stole the effect of Shroud, you didn't know what you were taking! Shroud forces all monsters it attacks to go into defensive mode. So Rahu is now in defense mode with 4000 defense, while your Infusion monster only has 2975 attack points. Meanwhile, you only have 800 life points. So since you lost 1025 life points, you just-"

"Lost the duel. Again." said Adriel, knowing that this was the end for him. As his Infusion dragon was knocked back and Rahu counterstruck, Adriel closed his eyes, waiting for the end.


	7. The Hearts of Men

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Okay, so this chapter marks the evolution of the story summary, because the plot is finally open. Uhh...read on I guess!

By the way, I know that this plot sounds like the Orichalcos theme from the show, but it's not.

**YuGiOh****: Hallowed Darkness**

_The Hearts of Men_

A burst of blue light ended the duel between Adriel and Ryu. "What are you waiting for...take my soul." said Adriel in a somber voice.

"No..." said Ryu. "You are a worthy duelist. And a worthy avatar. But you've been terribly corrupted by the hearts of men. And therefore, you don't have a strong connection with your creatures. All that can change if you are still willing to follow me." offered Ryu.

"I am..." said Adriel.

Ryu cracked a smile and the room vanished. His form melted, and the image of a powerful dragon replaced him. "Excellent. The only thing left to do now is to invoke the ritual and summon your spirit monster."

Tendrils of golden energy leapt out of Ryu and into Adriel, who began to morph. His lithe frame twisted into that of a dragon. His eyes flashed gold, and were soon black with golden irises. The spikes on his head grew and seemed to solidify, two large black horns jutting out of his now golden hair. The bones of his hands cracked and became angular, ten golden claws replacing his fingernails. The golden frame of two dragon wings erupted from his back and the gaps between the bones were filled with black skin. At waist level, a black tail shot out of his back and grew golden barbs that ran along its length. Finally, his skin turned black and hardened, fracturing into individual scales.

Through this, his cloak exploded into shreds. His robes remained intact, although a golden emblem appeared over his heart. "Your spirit..." said Ryu, "Is the Golden Chaos Dragon. It is up to you to bring it to life in a duel. When you wake up, you will not be a dragon. You will find yourself in a room filled with cards. They are all yours now. I am with you, and invoking my name will call me into the duel. You are now the Avatar of Dragons."

Darkness consumed Adriel and everything went quiet.

Adriel woke up in a fancy bed, still in his black robes. "Was that all a dream?" he asked himself. Sitting up, he realized it wasn't. In front of him was a glass display case filled with cards. Behind that was a bookshelf filled with binders labeled with card types and strategies. Climbing out of the red satin sheets, Adriel took his deck from the nightstand next to him and brought it to a larger table next to the display case. He spread his deck in front of him and began to work. _Any card..._ said a voice in his mind.

"I know, Ryu." replied Adriel, opening the glass door of the container and pulling out a few cards.

_Look in the seventh binder to the right..._ whispered Ryu's voice.

"Why?" asked Adriel, switching three cards out for three new ones.

"Would you just do it?" Ryu said, exasperated.

"Wait, what? I thought you didn't have a body!" Adriel shouted in surprise. Ryu was standing right next to him.

"I'm a spirit. Only you can see me since you're my avatar. Now just look in the binder, will you?!" Ryu shouted.

Adriel obliged and grabbed a gold binder. "Ryu, there's nothing here but a blank card." However, Adriel couldn't help but notice that this card was strange looking. The square where the monster's picture was supposed to be was completely transparent, and the card itself was a holographic black.

"Put it in your deck. And always keep this binder with you." Ryu said.

Sighing, Adriel tossed the card onto his deck table and slid the binder, which was only the size of an address book, into a pocket inside his robes.

"Thank you. Was that so hard? Anyway, I should tell you now that the best cards are in the binders. The glass case of cards that you're building from is mainly a collection." said Ryu.

"Will do. Now can you stop bothering me?" asked Adriel. Ryu snorted in return, but vanished.

"Now then..." Adriel said, pulling out a binder labeled "Dragons-Tribute".

A bit later, Adriel had his entire deck ready, as well as two spares in case anything should happen. "Ryu? I'm ready. Now what?" called Adriel.

Ryu's form materialized next to Adriel. "Now we get you your new DuelDisk." he said.

"What? Why? The one I have is practically brand new!" sputtered Adriel.

"You need a new one because you're not the only avatar on the planet. The particular disk you'll be getting is a trademark, per se. And you'll be getting new clothes, too." Ryu said, trying to remember where exactly he was going.

"What, are we going to the supernatural mall?" joked Adriel.

"You could say that..." replied Ryu.

Adriel was being led by Ryu all throughout the city. "Ryu, what's the point? I'm sure we've passed that shop before." he said.

"Shut up. It just looks the same. We need to go to the top of that building," Ryu said, pointing towards a skyscraper.

"You know that the upper third of that building is empty, right?" asked Adriel.

"Yes, I know. But that's the spot that the others chose to use as our base of operations."

The pair continued walking, and Adriel gained a couple awkward stares as he talked to Ryu, who was still a spirit more than anything else. Plus, no one walked around in black robes anymore.

"Okay, we're up as far as the elevator will take us." said Adriel. "Where are these 'others'?" he demanded.

"They're up here," said Ryu. He closed his eyes and concentrated, turning completely black and losing form. This dark blob shot through the ceiling while Adriel stood rooted to the ground in shock.

"Hurry up!" shouted Ryu from the upper floor. "I don't have all day."

"Sorry for not knowing how to fly through ceilings, especially since humans can't fly!" Adriel shouted back.

"You idiot, I told you that you have a spirit monster now! Call upon it and get up here!" Ryu screamed.

Sighing, Adriel pulled the black card out of his deck. He focused on the card and willed the image of a giant black and gold dragon to appear on its transparent surface. Slowly, a combination of different shades of black, white, and gold seeped into the card as if Adriel had spilled something on it. The card began to glow gold, and that glow extended into Adriel, who felt his body leave the ground. He reflexively braced himself as his head neared the ceiling, but was mildly disturbed as he passed through it effortlessly.

"Took you long enough," said Ryu. Adriel didn't hear him. He was too busy looking at his surroundings. The room he was in looked very sterile. The floors were tiled with a shale-colored stone and the walls were, of course, all windows. As Adriel looked closer, he could see that the floor was carved with some sort of design, and that there were several pedestals lining the rounded walls.

"Where are we?" asked Adriel.

"Headquarters. I told you. Now we just have to wait for the others to get here..."

Ryu disappeared and reappeared behind one of the pedestals. Soon, several other strange-looking individuals appeared behind the remainder of the platforms. "Ryu, who have you brought here today?" asked one of the sovereigns.

Ryu didn't answer him, and Adriel took it upon himself to answer. "I'm Adriel. Adriel Touchstone."

"And?" asked another sovereign.

Adriel looked to Ryu for help, but his guardian's stony gaze gave him no help. "Uh...Ryu made me the avatar of dragons."

"Why did he do this?" demanded a shadowy looking figure to Ryu's right.

"We dueled and I lost, but Ryu said that I was still a good duelist."

"Is this true?" asked a sovereign across the room.

Ryu didn't answer. "Yes," replied Adriel, feeling kind of stupid.

"Very well. We will test you to see if you are truly worthy of the power that the position of Avatar holds." said a voice to Adriel's immediate left.

_A test?_ wondered Adriel. He didn't have to wait long as each sovereign placed a card on their pedestal. Monsters from at least a dozen representative types of creatures in the game of Duel Monsters jumped out at him. Adriel recognized Infernus charging at him before his body went rigid and he lost control. He morphed into the Gold-Eyes Chaos Dragon, dragonoid form, and activated his disk. He quickly grabbed a glowing silver card from his deck and threw it into his field card slot. An orb of energy materialized around him and began to rapidly spin, blocking all attacks. The ground around him cracked and melted; a spiked rock mountain shooting up beneath Adriel and propelling him into the air. "**Dragon's Keep** prevents me from taking battle damage as long as there's a dragon on the field. And guess what? I'm a dragon."

Adriel quickly summoned five monsters to the field. Ryu recognized them as the parts of Rahu. "My five monsters gain 700 attack and defense points from my field and I no longer have to pay for their effects. Now I meld them together."

The pieces of Rahu swirled in a halo around Adriel and shot to the ground in a beam. **Rahu**** the Dragon Monarch** erupted from the ground in front of Adriel and leapt into the air, resting behind its master. "Rahu, Dragon Legend Impact!"

Rahu opened its jaws and let off a burst of energy that crackled with dragonic lightning. It blasted through a fiend-type monster and exploded, the shockwave wiping out three other monsters. In the wake of the attack, Adriel had already summoned out **Infusion Dragon** and mimicked the attack of Levia-Dragon Daedalus and the effect of **Zaborg**** the Thunder Monarch**. A monster launched itself at Adriel's Infusion Dragon and was destroyed through Zaborg's effect as Rahu eliminated Levia-Dragon Daedalus.

"You can't win," said Adriel as he summoned an all-too-familiar monster, the **Blue Eyes White Dragon**. "Burst Stream!"

The Blue Eyes shot off a stream of energy and eliminated four monsters as Rahu and Infusion Dragon continued their rampage. Soon, there was nothing left but Adriel's triumphant dragons.

Adriel returned his monsters to his cards and pulled out his field spell card, causing the landscape to return to normal. The silver card went blank, and Adriel returned to human mode, the black card that housed the image of the Gold-Eyes Chaos Dragon going transparent once more.

Ryu smiled in a way that only Adriel could see, and the other sovereigns began to applaud Adriel. "You are worthy," said the sovereign of the ocean. "And we accept you as the destined Avatar of Dragons."

Adriel felt energy swirl around him. His DuelDisk transformed into a much more advanced piece of technology, and his robes transformed as well. They were now sleeveless and midnight blue, and Adriel was wearing a longsleeve black shirt underneath them, accompanied with black cargo pants and steel-capped black boots. His hands were garbed in black fingerless gloves.

On his left hand was a small, round, black disk. It had two slots directly across from each other. One had Adriel's deck, and the other was for his graveyard. It was held in place with a black band that gripped his palm and four black leather finger loops that slid over his four main fingers. On the top was an engraved image of the Gold-Eyes Chaos Dragon, protected with a glass bubble.

On his right hand was another small, round, black disk, attached to his hand the same way. There were no card slots, but two bulges signified the presence of holographic projectors. The top of the disk showed two LED screens for life point tracking, and they were also protected with a glass bubble. On his forearm were five rectangular items, which were the card pads. They were also black, but the actual rectangle where the cards were placed on was the same shade of blue as his robes. They connected to Adriel via a metal ring that closed around his forearm. These five items and the black disk on his right hand were connected by a thin wire.

"Thanks...but what now?" Adriel asked.

"Now you go to find the other avatars." replied a shadowy sovereign. "Ryu shall remain here. We need to discuss something." he added, looking directly at Ryu. The dragon sovereign avoided eye contact.

"Right...how will I recognize them?" Adriel said quietly.

"You will be able to sense them. They do not have the hearts of men." explained the sovereign of the ocean.

"Oh...right." said Adriel, transforming into his spirit form and shooting out of the window.

"He learns fast..." said Ryu.


	8. Fear of Demons

**Disclaimer/Author's Note**

Introducing the second avatar, Sean! Sean controls fiends just like Adriel controls dragons.

**YuGiOh****: Hallowed Darkness**

_Fear of Demons_

Adriel flew throughout the city and sensed varying levels of purity, but none of which belonged to someone who could be an avatar. "This is hopeless..." he muttered. A light breeze blew past him, and the faintest trace of something similar to the avatars called itself to his attention. "Maybe there is something here..." Adriel pointed himself in the direction of the scent and he flew towards it, still just a dark cloud to the eyes of the people.

As he got closer, Adriel discerned several other details; _He's...evil? No, that can't be, all the avatars are good. Maybe he runs fiends. But that means he's dueling. Or that he's having one of those weird battles like back in that tower...I'd better hurry up._ Adriel quickened his pace.

A few moments later and Adriel touched down in front of a dark construction site. "Well, I should've expected something weird like this..." He walked boldly into the steel jungle, trying to find his target. Within a few minutes, Adriel found what he was looking for. In the darkness, a single figure was being confronted by two others. "Gotta be him..." Adriel muttered, walking forward.

"So you're gonna give us your cards, right?" asked one of the punks who were ganging up on the other boy.

"Not a chance," replied the teen, ducking to the side and rolling out of danger.

"Wrong answer!" replied the other thug, throwing a punch. Adriel stepped in and blocked his new opponent's arm, taking the awkward moment to elbow the other man in the gut.

"Who're you?" asked the target of the gang-up.

"Adriel. Hurry up and call out your soul card." Adriel replied calmly, tossing the second thug over his shoulder and into his charging comrade.

"Uhh...I don't know what you're talking about..." feigned Adriel's counterpart avatar.

"Yes you do. Don't fake it," Adriel replied as he reactivated his own card, morphing into the Gold-Eyes Chaos Dragon. The other boy, secret exposed, transformed into a demon. Sharp fangs glinted in the faint light and long claws of the same color replaced his nails. His hair, once black and spiky like Adriel's, paled and lengthened, succumbing to gravity and falling into a straight mess. The avatar's eyes turned deeply indigo and he growled dangerously. His skin became black and took on the abrasive texture of sharkskin. Two dark gray, angular horns burst out of his skull. Finally, a pair Adriel watched as his teammate's muscles bulged, straining at the confines of his shirt under his jacket.

"Wha...wha...AAH!" shouted the punk that Adriel had roughly thrown to the ground. He turned to run, ignoring his friend who was backed up against the wall.

The unknown avatar lunged at the fleeing figure, but Adriel stopped him. "No...we duel." Adriel said gruffly, holding up his hand with his DuelDisk attached.

"Right..." growled the other teen with a voice that was barely human.

"But...but...I don't have...a deck..." stuttered the guy on the ground.

"Yes you do, don't lie. Everyone in this city has some sort of deck." Adriel said.

"But...a two on one isn't fair!" The punk didn't realize the irony of his statement. However, Adriel sighed and took flight. A half minute later, he was back with the other punk under his arm. Adriel dropped the boy to the ground.

"Now it's a two on two. If you don't duel us, we'll kill you." Adriel said matter-of-factly.

"...Okay...we'll duel...but if we win then you have to leave us alone forever!" shouted the man who had been dropped a few seconds ago.

"Deal," replied Adriel, activating his disk. The feral figure of his partner did the same.

_What's your name?_ asked Adriel telepathically, although he didn't understand how.

_Sean._ Replied the other avatar. Adriel mused on how someone who turned into that would have such a simple name. But in the end, it didn't matter, and Adriel watched as the two shaking punks activated their disks, which were lying on the ground behind them.

"What're your names," asked Adriel calmly, drawing his first five cards.

"Why does it matter?" replied the first boy, fearfully watching Sean nearly rip the cards out of his own disk, which was identical to that of Adriel's, except with the image of his own avatar engraved in the left disk, rather than the Gold-Eyes Chaos Dragon.

"Because I don't want to have to point at you every time I attack." Adriel responded.

"Uhh...I'm Brody and my friend is Chad." said the boy. Adriel could tell that he was lying.

"Fine. I'll go first... 'Brody.'" Adriel said as he drew. "I set a monster as well as two facedown cards. Your move." Adriel said.

Brody drew. "I summon a monster face down as well, and I end my turn by setting one card face down."

Sean drew without a word. "I'll summon **Devil's Fear LV4** in attack mode," (1600/1400) A monster that looked like a demonic priest appeared on the field with a thin-looking staff. "Then I set a card face down and end my turn."

Chad was stunned speechless by everything that happened, but managed to muster a few statements. "Uhh...I...I activate **Necrovalley**." The area around the duelists warped and took on the appearance of an arid valley with large walls of rock and a setting sun for effect. It seemed as if this field comforted its owner. "I now summon **Gravekeeper's**** Spear Soldier** in attack mode." (1500500/1000500) "End turn." he said.

Adriel drew again. "I summon **Gemini Dragon Wings** in defense mode." (1900/2200) "Then, I set another card and end my turn." Adriel discarded a card from his deck to the graveyard, as per effect of his monster.

Brody drew, wondering what Adriel's facedown monster was. "I flip summon my facedown card, **Needle Worm**! Now both my opponents must discard 5 cards from the top of their decks to their graveyards."

He watched as Adriel and Sean did this, Adriel visibly blanching as he took a quick glance at his cards. "In response, I'll activate my facedown **Attraction of Shards**. This allows me to special summon a fusion material monster from my deck, and I'll choose **Swarm of Dragon Scales** in defense mode." (1500/2500)

"I activate the spell card **Book of Moon** to return my Needle Worm to face down defense position. I then summon **Don Zaloog** to the field in attack mode!" (1400/1500) Adriel wondered why Brody summoned his monster in attack mode, but decided not to question the play. "End turn," Brody declared.

Sean drew again. "Such a weak monster. I attack Don Zaloog with Devil's Fear." he said, thrusting his arm at Brody. Adriel was taken aback by this bold move.

"Wrong! I reveal **Magic Cylinder**!" shouted Brody, but Sean's monster shot a beam of energy from its staff and incinerated the tubes.

"Devil's Judgment negates a card and levels my monster up," said Sean as he revealed his facedown card and his monster grew to level 6. (2300/1600) Its staff became thicker and three thin wires loosely twirled around its exterior, stopping at the jewel on its top. The priest also grew a little bit. It fired off a beam of black and red energy at Don Zaloog, disintegrating the monster in an instant. Brody lost 900 life points. "End turn," Sean said as his monster grew again. Its staff grew even larger, and the wires grew thicker, blooming around the orb-sized jewel. The robes on its body became more flowing and it looked as if it had aged a little. (2900/2000) "A monster is special summoned from my graveyard as well." Sean added.

Chad grinned. "Not quite. Necrovalley negates all effects that target monsters in the graveyard." he explained. Sean growled, and Chad's mirthful expression evaporated.

Chad quickly drew again. "I summon a monster in defense mode and attack your facedown monster, Adriel."

Adriel smiled as his monster was eliminated by the spear soldier and he lost 900 life points, tying him with Brody. "Activate **Propagation of Effect**!" shouted Adriel as a red dragon plated with white scales burst apart.

_What does that do?_ Adriel heard Sean ask telepathically.

_Oh, right..._ Adriel replied before publically announcing; "This card allows me to choose the effect of one monster that I have and use it again. I choose Masked Dragon to summon **Child of the Grand** and **Dragon Demon Soldier**, both in defense mode." (1000/1000 1400/1200)

"End turn." replied Chad, noting silently that Adriel now had four defense monsters, one of which was a powerful 1900-attack point monster.

Adriel drew again. "I'll set a card and end my turn," he said. His dragon scales tore through the set card as his two dragon wings sliced into his deck, destroying the top card.

Brody drew as well. "I'll save this little number for later." He ended his turn.

"Draw." said Sean darkly. "Activate effect of **Devil's Fear LV8** to special summon **Devil's Fear LV6** to the field." (2300/1600) Sean's larger monster chanted a few demonic spells and out of its staff shot a black mist. This mist coagulated into the form of the younger and less experience Devil's Fear LV6. "Attack **Gravekeeper's**** Spear Soldier** with Devil's fear LV8!" he commanded bluntly.

Chad realized too late that he had no spell or trap cards to save him. He braced himself for impact as he lost 900 life points, leaving Sean the only duelist with more than 3100 left. "Attack facedown monster with Level 6." Chad again wished that he had packed his deck with attack negating cards as his other monster was eliminated, but he did find some solace.

"You destroyed **Gravekeeper's**** Spy**. Its effect lets me special summon another of its kind to the field. I choose a second spear soldier." (1500500/1000500)

"End turn." said Sean, grinning maliciously as his LV6 grew to another LV8. (2900/2000)

Chad drew and immediately placed a monster on his side of the field. "I summon **Gravekeeper's**** Guard** in defense mode and attack **Child of the Grand** with my soldier!" Adriel did nothing to stop Chad's attack as a spear tore through his monster. It was instantly replaced with a shining golden dragon.

"You allowed me to summon **Grand Emperor Dragon** to the field by destroying my monster." (2000/2500) "Now it's my move." Adriel continued, drawing his card.

I summon **Team of Dragon Claws** in attack mode and set this card." (2000/1800) "Now I attack your Spear Soldier with my **Grand Emperor Dragon** as retribution for destroying its child!" Adriel shouted.

A beam of pure energy shot forth from Adriel's monster as Chad's soldier flung its spear. The energy burned through the spear and annihilated the soldier as Chad lost 500 life points. "How?!" shouted Chad.

"Whenever a dragon monster is special summoned to the field, my **Grand Emperor Dragon** gains 500 attack points for the remainder of the duel." he said. "Finally, I attack your guard with my team of dragon claws."

Adriel's ten dragon claws shot together, points out, forming a lethal razor disk. It shot towards Chad's monster and collided with its stomach, tearing right through and destroying the monster. Chad lost 100 life points from the overflow damage. "I end my turn, and must bid farewell to my dragon scales, as don't wish to feed them." Adriel's scales shot back into their card, which exploded. However, his Gemini wings eliminated a card from his deck and his new team of claws attacked a card in his graveyard, removing it from play.

"My move!" shouted Brody, angry that neither he nor his partner had spells or traps, and that he had no attackers while Chad had no monsters.. "Flip summon **Needle Worm**," Adriel and Sean discarded five cards, "And sacrifice it for **Vampire Lord**!" (2000/1500) Brody's tiny worm shattered and was replaced by a blue-haired vampire. "I set the rest of my hand and attack **Dragon Demon Soldier**!" he shouted. The vampire flew over to Adriel's crouching soldier and bit into its neck, sucking its life essence away. The dragon monster crumbled into a pile of dust...from which a regal-looking dragon warrior arose.

"Due to the effect of my destroyed monster, you just allowed me to special summon **Dragon Demon Lord** to the field." (2400/1000)

Brody snarled. "End turn!" he shouted.

Sean drew. He took a quick survey of the field. Adriel had Grand Emperor Dragon, Dragon Demon Lord, Team of Dragon Claws, and Gemini Dragon Wings on his side of the field with no spell or trap cards. His life points were at 3100. Sean himself had two Devil's Fear LV8 monsters but no spell or traps either and a full 4000 life points. Brody had Vampire Lord and three facedown cards with 3100 life points. Finally, Chad had no monsters thanks to Adriel's last onslaught, and throughout the duel, the only non-monster card he had ever played was his Necrovalley, which was still on the field. He had 3000 life points remaining.

"Activate the effect of both my monsters to summon **Dark Ruler Ha Des** and **End of Anubis** to the field in attack mode." (2450/1600 2500/0) "Now I special summon **Perfect Chaos** by removing from play my two newest monsters." (3600/2400)

Adriel caught a glimpse of Sean's card. It was black. He smiled as Perfect Chaos appeared on the field. It was huge with glowing indigo eyes and a body that was too big to be completely visible. Shadows wrapped around it protectively, only letting the deep purplish flame that enveloped its body show. Its entire body was plated with a supple yet durable carapace which glowed with indigo fire. Two horns crowned its skull, a dull, almost silver color which contrasted regally with the purple fire that coarsed over most of its surface. "I eliminate Chad with a direct attack from my soul monster!"

"Defend with **Negate Attack**!" shouted Brody.

"End turn," said Sean, unperturbed by this event.

Chad drew, giving himself one last chance to turn things around. He grinned. "I summon **Spirit Reaper** in defense mode!" (300/200)

"What's that going to do for you?" asked Adriel as Chad ended his turn.

"You'll see..." replied the other duelist.

Adriel drew. "I'll get rid of all your monsters as well as one of you two in one turn. I switch **Gemini Dragon Wings** and **Team of Dragon Claws** into attack mode. I then attack Vampire Lord with Dragon Demon Lord!"

Adriel's warrior monster raised its blade and charged the other Lord on the field. However, its attack was halted. "Activate Waboku!" shouted Brody. Adriel grimaced and ended his turn. One card was lost from his deck as another was removed from play.

"Draw!" Brody shouted. "I set a monster card and attack **Gemini Dragon Wings** with Vampire Lord!" Adriel's monster was destroyed by Brody's creature. "Now the effect of Vampire Lord activates. I declare that you must discard a spell card from your deck to your graveyard!"

Adriel looked in shock as his deck glowed and all his spells shot out of his disk. "Choose one." said Brody mockingly. Adriel pointed at one, which flew into his graveyard as the rest went back into his deck. "End turn." he said.

Sean drew. "I attack Vampire Lord with Perfect Chaos!" Sean's monster attempted to again destroy something, but it was again blocked.

"Another Waboku," said Brody, flashing the trap card.

"End turn." said Sean, getting more bored than annoyed.

"My move." said Chad. "I summon a second Spirit Reaper to the field and end my turn."

Adriel drew. "This is getting boring. I summon **Spear Dragon** to the field!" (1900/0) "Now if you don't mind, I'll attack both your Spirit Reapers with Spear Dragon and Team of Dragon Claws!"

Adriel's two monsters rushed Chad, but this time Brody had no cards to save him. The two reapers were not destroyed, but Chad lost a hefty amount of life points; 1700 from Spear Dragon's attack and 1800 from Team of Dragon Claws. "Sorry, Brody..." said Chad sadly as his cards vanished from the field.

Brody gritted his teeth. He was now facing the two on one that he had feared.

"I'm not done yet! I attack Vampire Lord with Dragon Demon Lord!" Brody watched as his monster was destroyed and he lost 400 life points. "Now I'll finish you. Grand Emperor Dragon, Gemini Dragon Wings, attack!"

The wings clasped together, forming a lethal boomerang. Adriel's dragon grasped it in its maw and began to charge energy, firing off the wings as well as a stream of energy. "Activate **Final Twilight**! This card prevents me from losing my very last life point, and it is immediately my turn." Brody said as Adriel's attack collided.

"I play the spell card **Energy Infusion**!" shouted Brody. A ring appeared on his field with 100or so stars around its rim. Adriel's and Sean's monsters both began to glow a pale tone of one shade or another. Those auras flew into the center of Brody's ring. "Watch as my card's effect takes place."

The ball of multicolored energy in the center of the ring began to pulse, and 48 of the 100 stars absorbed that energy. "I can now fill my field with monsters whose levels do not exceed the total number of stars that my ring possesses."

Adriel and Sean both cursed to themselves. "What's more, I can ignore any summoning requirements if need be." Brody continued. "That's why I carry my fusion deck," he said, grinning. The ring rose into the air and began to spin. Bolts of energy began to shoot between points on the ring and a vortex was created.

"I know just what to play against you two!" Brody shouted as monsters began to emerge. Adriel recognized the monsters, one of which he had contemplated using, one of which he actually was using, and the other of which was one of his worst enemies. "I summon two **XYZ-Dragon Cannon**s, two **Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon**s, and a **Dark Paladin**!" Brody shouted. (2800/2600 2800/2600 4500/3800 4500/3800 2900/2400)

"I don't even have to ask if you know the effect of Dark Paladin, Adriel. But I'll explain it for Sean, who might not be as versed in dragon warfare. Dark Paladin gains 500 attack points for every dragon monster on the field and in the graveyard of all players. Adriel runs a dragon deck, so let's just see how high this total gets." Dark Paladin's attack began to rise rapidly, finally stopping at an astronomical 8400. "One direct attack will finish either of you." said Brody.

Adriel glanced at his Grand Emperor Dragon. Even if Brody didn't notice that its attack had climbed to 4000, it still wasn't enough to cushion the blast that Brody's monster would inflict. He then glanced at his one facedown card. _Brody...I only have one facedown card. I can't protect us both. It'll redirect the attack at Perfect Chaos. Unless you have your own secret defense, there's nothing I can do for you._ he said a bit regretfully.

_I wouldn't worry about that._ replied Sean.

"Go ahead," said Adriel.

"I will." replied Brody resolutely. "Dark Paladin, attack Adriel's Dragon Demon Lord!"

Dark Paladin rushed Adriel's monster in a blind rage, its blade glowing fiercely behind it.

"Activate **Star Collapse**!" Adriel shouted. His monster materialized behind Sean's Perfect Chaos and exploded, a vacuum sucking all of Brody's monsters in. Adriel's and Sean's monsters were seemingly immune. "This card destroys the target of your attack and switches it to the highest level monster on our side of the field. That would be Perfect Chaos. Then, all of the other monsters on your field must attack that monster as well." he finished.

"What's the point of that? Perfect Chaos won't even be able to stand up to my first attack!" Brody shouted as Dark Paladin drew closer. However, his monster was blocked by a stone ring with stars engraved on its edges. "My spell!" shouted Brody.

"That's right." replied Sean. "Perfect Chaos' effect lets me, once per duel, remove all fiends in my graveyard to use a spell or trap in your graveyard. I chose **Energy Infusion**." he said. However, instead of the original 48 stars, this ring had 96.

"Thanks again for summoning such strong monsters. Now then, Perfect Chaos' other effect activates. Whenever I summon a monster by any means, I can immediately sacrifice it to give my monster 100 more attack points per level star of that monster. Then, that monster is returned to the bottom of my deck." Sean explained.

"Meaning that you can keep summoning monsters until all 96 stars have been used up, because your monsters leave the field as soon as they hit it." continued Adriel, thinking out loud.

"Exactly." replied Sean as spectral monsters appeared, only to be consumed by Perfect Chaos. This brutal pattern continued until the ring collapsed, all of its energy spent. Perfect Chaos stood with a gargantuan attack power of 132,000.

"No! Stop!" shouted Brody, but it was too late. Perfect Chaos finally got an attack in, shooting out two beams of indigo energy from its eyes and vaporizing Dark Paladin. Brody's last life point was snuffed out.

"We win." Sean said as the holograms shut off. Perfect Chaos, however, continued to tower over the four duelists.

"Why isn't that hologram going away?" asked Chad in pure terror.

"Because Perfect Chaos isn't a card. It's a demon. And your punishment is death..."

Two screams echoed through the city that night, and Adriel Touchstone and Sean Kishore retreated back to their sovereigns.


End file.
